RIVERSIDE, CA – The University of La Verne's men's and women's cross country teams rewrote the record books with two of the fastest performances in the program's history at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday.
Freshman Avery Bravo continued her display of dominance with another top-15 all-time performance for the program in the 5K, shattering her own record by 12 seconds. Angelica Espinoza and Chloe Chong followed shortly behind with Chong improving by 1:10 for a new personal record. CC Flaherty continued her momentum as the fourth Leopard, coming in within eight seconds of her track and field 5K time. Senior Kaliah Ramirez recorded another breakthrough performance improving her fastest time by 24 seconds, and Freshman Angelica Escobedo and sophomore Mariah Huizar displayed their hard work with some of their fastest times, including a 55-second personal record for Huizar.
The women's team placed 29th out of the 32 teams in the open portion of the invitational at UC Riverside, which consisted of NCAA Division I, II, and III and 3C2A community college programs.
Women's Times
Avery Bravo (19:27.9, 15th all-time 5K)
Angelica Espinoza (20:36.2)
Chloe Chong (20:39.7)
CC Flaherty (21:04.6)
Kaliah Ramirez (22:00.0)
Angelica Escobedo (22:17.7)
Mariah Huizar (22:54.7)
Joseph Chavarria recorded the largest breakout performance of the day with a 17-second personal record to notch himself in the record books with a top-23 all-time 8K time. Fernando Cortez was the first Leopard to come in with his fastest race in two years. Junior Logan Ciszek recorded a 9-second personal record to come in as the next Leopard, followed by Noah Ramos who recorded a 32-second personal record. Junior transfer Dillon Burhop showed grit, passing 27 runners in the last half of the race.
The men's team placed 12th out of the 21 teams at the UC Riverside Open, coming out on top of SCIAC rival Pomona-Pitzer.
Men's Times
Fernando Cortez Jr. (25:52.5)
Joseph Chavarria (25:57.6, 23rd all-time 8K)
Logan Ciszek (26:22.2)
Noah Ramos (26:36.2)
Dillon Burhop (27:09.9)
The Leopards will compete again at the Frank Knott Classic hosted by Whitworth University in Spokane, WA, October 3.
