Amid a weekend of heavy rain all across California, the cloud cover had dissipated over the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, offering a brief reprieve Friday morning as the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s West Regional Cross Country Championships commenced.

Facing a deep field of competition, including Big 10 Champion University of Oregon and West Coast Conference powerhouse Washington state, the Sacramento State Hornets ran among a sea of top tier schools.

The seven-deep Hornet women’s squad kicked things off at 9 a.m. with the women’s 6K race.

Senior Anna Harmon held her own amid fierce opponents, getting out strong and establishing herself at a fighting pace in the first mile. Despite slowing into a more comfortable rhythm throughout the rest of the race, her fast start kept her at a biting 5:47 average mile pace overall, coming in 90th place at 21:35.8.

Just ahead of Harmon at the finish line was graduate student Tia Oliver, whose long gait and quick turnover propelled her to 85th overall, clocking in at 21:26.8.

Oliver started the race with a more controlled start, allowing her to conserve the energy needed to move up through the middle pack towards the heavy hitters by the end. She pulled ahead of runners from Causeway rival UC Davis in the last kilometer and outsprinted Oregon’s redshirt sophomore Allura Markow by nearly four seconds – an impressive final push against a member of the second-place team.

Oliver said the densely-packed route came with stiff but valuable competition.

“It was a really competitive race, so it went out really fast,” Oliver said. “Our team did a really good job at holding our positions and really fighting for every place.”

Sophomore Marina Lipary demonstrated another aggressive kick to the finish, coming in at 21:51 and 109th overall with seniors Sophia Dudley and Dakota Gibson not far behind at 22:06.8 and 22:21, respectively. The three held a steady pack throughout most of the race, Dudley and Gibson often trailing about 50 paces behind Lipary.

The rest of the Hornet women finished not far behind, with the entire crew coming in under 23 minutes. Sac State placed 16th as a team, beating out over 20 other competitors including Davis.

Assistant distance track and cross country coach Cade Burks commended the women’s improvement, both from last year’s regionals and the Big Sky Conference championships Nov. 1.

“We didn’t have the day that we wanted two weeks ago at the conference meeting,” Burks said. “I think the women’s team turned around really well to come out and were really aggressive in this one, established [their] positions early and fought really hard in this one.”

Junior Meg Moyer, who finished 197th overall at 22:58.8, said the mud on the course from Thursday’s downpour made this relatively flat terrain more physical than other races.

“A couple of girls fell right in front me. It’s like jumping over people,” Moyer said. “[The course] has potential to be fast, but I think with the mud, it slowed it down a bit.”

Lipary spoke of the stress she and her teammates felt racing against such challenging competition. She said this race, the beginning of the cross country postseason, is one the team trains for all year.

“Our strategy was to just go out at the front, and if we died a little bit, that was OK,” Lipary said. “We knew we had a chance of getting around 15th place, and we did that.”

The relief and pride was unambiguous on the mud-strewn Lipary after her fight to the finish. She came in nearly a minute off her personal record of 21:03.7 from earlier this season, but the sophomore looks poised to swim with the sharks as her collegiate career progresses.

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The men’s 10K race began at 10 a.m. with a false start and a palpable sense of exhilaration. Junior Ryan Martin, the sole Hornet racing in the men’s field, brought his hometown pride as a West Sacramento native.

Martin said that while the encouragement of his teammates and family on his home turf brought excitement, it was somewhat isolating running solo against such cutthroat competition.

“It’s fun to be out here and be the center of attention, but I also miss my team,” Martin said.

Martin nonetheless proved his place among the bunch, finishing at 104th and setting a new PR of 31:29.9. Martin said he had hoped for a stronger finish, but distance track coach and assistant cross country coach Cade Burks said he was proud of Martin’s efforts.

Burks said that Martin has stepped up competitively this season, with a distinct improvement in his start compared to this same race a year ago.

“Ryan’s had to learn a lot in terms of taking a step forward in his running this year,” Burks said. “In this one, he was a lot closer to the front of the pack, was a lot more aggressive in his positioning and then came back off it a little bit. And I think there’s a lot to learn from putting yourself up into the race.”

Martin indeed was thrown into the weeds this race, narrowly avoiding a multiple-man pileup when two runners tripped over each other just feet away from Martin at the start of the second loop.

“That was a little scary – a little intense,” Martin said. “It was like, right to my right.”

Most of the Hornet men’s squad was sidelined by late-season injuries and illnesses, leaving Martin the solo scorer and the team at a Did Not Place. According to Burks, fellow Sacramento natives junior Brandon Moreno and senior Cooper Love were injured by a bike accident and a muscle tear, respectively.

Burks said the absence of some of their strongest runners was especially frustrating after they put on a strong showing at the UC Riverside Invitational this year.

“I had a lot of unfortunate stuff happen at the end of the year,” Burks said. “A lot of stuff that took, you know, one of the most talented teams that we’ve had and made it really difficult for us to be able to execute at the end of the year.”

While the Hornets will not advance to the NCAA championships this year, Burks said he is optimistic given the women’s improvement by 12 places from 2024.

“As a whole, we’re definitely going to be losing some pieces,” Burks said. “But through the recruiting that we’re doing right now and the people that are coming back, I think they’re going to be able to continue the momentum that we’ve been having.”