Meet Three
Highlander Invitational
Saturday, Oct. 16 | 9:00 a.m. MT (women's race | 6K) • 9:45 a.m. MT (men's race | 8K) | Riverside, Calif. | UCR Ag Ops Course
Live Results
THE STARTING LINE
• One final tune-up opportunity before the 2021 WAC Championship meet presents itself for the NM State cross country teams as the Aggies travel to Riverside, Calif., to take part in UC Riverside's Highlander Invitational.
• NM State men's and women's cross country teams will set up shop at the UCR Ag Ops Course alongside numerous other teams from around the nation. The women's six-kilometer race is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. MT while the eight-kilometer men's race starts at 9:45 a.m. MT Saturday morning.
THE FIELD
• This will be a good chance for the Aggies to see where they stack up with a handful of other WAC squads. Along with NM State, California Baptist, Dixie State and Grand Canyon are also sending their men's and women's squads to Riverside for Saturday morning's meet.
• In addition to the four WAC squads attending Friday's meet, an assortment of teams from the Big West (Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC San Diego), Mountain West (San Diego State and UNLV) and Pac-12 (UCLA and USC) will make up the field on both the men's and women's sides.
LAST TIME OUT | The Dave Murray Invitational • Friday, Oct. 1, 2021
• Richelle Sandin posted a runner-up finish on the women's side while Cole Shugart placed fourth in the men's race as the Aggies competed in Arizona's Dave Murray Invitational back on Friday, Oct. 1.
• NM State's women's cross country team finished third in the five-team field, beating out both Arizona State and league foe Grand Canyon.
• On the men's side, NM State was one of three teams on the trails at the Rolling Hills Golf Club. The Aggies' times yielded a runner-up finish.
• Sandin was joined in the group of top-ten finishers by Emily Stutesman who came up with a sixth-place individual finish.
• For the men, Anekin Hetman joined Shugart among the list of top-ten finishers. Hetman raced to a seventh-place finish in the 30-man field.
LAST TIME AT THE HIGHLANDER INVITATIONAL | Oct. 19, 2019
• Both the Aggies' men's and women's teams placed among the top three at the 2019 Highlander Invitational.
• Sandin (21:00.26) crossed the line in sixth place to serve as the Aggies' lone top-ten finisher on the women's side. Also among the top 20 finishers on the women's side were Maggie Gibbs (21:36.37, 16th) and Ocean Stevens (21:38.19, 18th) to help NM State place second in the 23-team field.
• The Aggies' men's cross country team came up with a third-place finish with Michael Kirwa (24:25.61) and Iley Bruce (24:46.01, 15th) leading the way. In all, 21 total teams were featured on the men's side.
COMING UP NEXT
• A second-straight trip to Riverside, Calif., is in order for NM State men's and women's cross country teams as they head to California Baptist for the WAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. The league meet is set for Saturday, Oct. 30, at the UC Riverside Ag Ops Courts.
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