BREA, Calif. — Senior Jordy Ceja finished sixth in the men's 8K, while the women were led by redshirt freshman Eva Goodisson and junior Sarah Anderson to a third place team finish in the 6K at the 2018 Big West Conference Championships.
In a very tightly contested men's race for the individual title, Ceja stuck with the pack for most of the event, breaking through at the end to place sixth overall with a time of 24:45.5, beating the next runner by four seconds. Ceja dropped 40 seconds off his time from the season-opener meet — the Covert Classic — which was held on the same course (23rd, 25:26.8) to record his best-ever result at the Big West Conference Championships during his career as an Aggie, earning him Big West All-Conference honors for the second year in a row.
"Jordy [Ceja] walks away today with his highest finish ever in the Big West Championships," said head coach Emma Petersen. "He's come a long way since being a non-scorer for UC Davis in his freshman year and credit goes to him for his persistence to be one of the very best in the conference."
Following Ceja, sophomore Ryman Crone (33rd, 26:00.3), freshman Michael Wheeler (41st, 26:14.2), senior Bradley Needles (46th, 26:27.2), and freshman Wade Kiesow (51st, 26:43.0) rounded out the scoring five, leading to a eighth place team finish with 166 points.
"Although the Men's team didn't get the overall finish they wanted, there are still positives to take from this race. It was a tough task for our underclassman to step up today and with [four] underclassman in the scoring [seven] it's a great experience as we build towards a championship," said Petersen.
In the second race of the day, the women earned a third place team finish in the 6K, scoring 74 points with the top five runners finishing in the top-25. Goodisson (7th, 21:54.9) and Anderson (10th, 22:04.8) paced the Aggies with a pair of top-ten finishes, while juniors Mandy Wainfan (16th, 22:36.3) and Haley Adel (22:39.1), and freshman Marin Chamberlin (22nd, 22:42.5) contributed to the team score. This is Anderson's second top-ten finish in as many years, as well as Goodisson's debut at the Conference Championships, with both runners earning Big West All-Conference honors. Goodisson, Anderson, Adel, and Wainfan all finished before any other runners from schools other than first-place Cal Poly, second-place Fullerton, and fourth-place UCSB — which the Aggies edged out by eight points.
"The women did a great job today," Petersen said. "They executed a strong race plan and that paid off with a podium finish. Eva [Goodisson] and Sarah [Anderson] achieved All-Conference finishes today which I'm really proud of. Eva has come such a long way this season and is a red-shirt freshman, so we've got plenty more opportunities for her to come here and make even more of an impact. I was very pleased to see such strong back up from Mandy Wainfan and Marin Chamberlin today. We were in [fourth] half way through, but their determination to move through the field made all the difference to us getting that [third] place finish."
Next up for UC Davis cross country will be their home meet, the Doc Adams Open on Sat. Nov. 3 at the Putah Creek Reserve.
Men's Team Results:
1. Cal Poly, 36; 2. UCSB, 69; 3. Fullerton, 104; 4. UC Riverside, 110; 5. Long Beach, 134; 6. UC Irvine, 162; 7. CSUN, 166*; 8. UC Davis, 166*
*tiebreaker: winner was determined by higher-placed finishers within the five scoring runners. CSUN 1-3 runners placed higher than UC Davis 1-3
Individual Results (Winner + UC Davis finishers):
1. Jake Ritter (Cal Poly), 24:27.5
6. Jordy Ceja, 24:45.5
33. Ryman Crone, 26:00.3
41. Michael Wheeler, 26:14.2
46. Bradley Needles, 26:27.2
51. Wade Kiesow, 26:43.0
52. Derek Lin, 26:45.5
63. Xolan Brown, 27:37.0
65. Zachary Katzman, 27:48.4
Women's Team Results:
1. Cal Poly, 33; 2. Fullerton, 39; 3. UC Davis, 74; 4. UCSB, 82; 5. UC Irvine, 147; 6. UC Riverside, 187; 7. Long Beach, 207; 8. CSUN, 238; 9. Hawaii, 268
Individual Results (Winner + UC Davis finishers):
1. Miranda Daschian (Cal Poly), 21:23.1
7. Eva Goodisson, 21:54.9
10. Sarah Anderson, 22:04.8
16. Mandy Wainfan, 22:36.3
19. Haley Adel, 22:39.1
22. Marin Chamberlin, 22:42.5
23. Julia Lemak, 22:49.7
43. Lara Vetter, 23:39.8
46. Anaya Ward, 23:42.7
54. Tatjana Kunz, 24.02.9
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