Redlands Runners Shine at Opening Home Meet
The University of Redlands cross country programs opened the 2012 campaign by hosting various schools at the Redlands Invitational on Saturday morning.
Overall, the men from Los Angeles Technical Trade College impressed with a top-three sweep, as Omar Cortes, Juan Rodriguez, and Jesus Ortiz fired off sub-19-minute times on the 6K course. On the women's side, Biola University continued its recent dominance at this early-season meet, posting the first six finishers. Rachel Stump highlighted the Eagles' efforts with her first-place time of 16:55.50 as the only runner to complete the 4500m course in less than 17 minutes.
For Redlands, freshman Hunter Holthaus (San Diego, CA) made the most of his collegiate debut with his 23rd-place time of 20:05.50. Sophomore Chris Bolt (Reno, NV) closely followed by finishing the course in 20:10.70. In addition, Redlands revealed its youthful talent with a quintet of rookie runners as the team's next top finishers. Among those, freshmen Jarron Helbock (San Diego, CA) and Nathan Meier (Riverside, CA) notched sub-21-minute performances in the inaugural meets of their collegiate careers.
The Bulldogs looked to the steady and solid contributions of sophomore Della Lyle (Buffalo, WY), who completed the race in 18:01.70 as the 15th-fastest overall harrier. After improving more than 80 seconds from her time in 2011, junior Vanessa Anchondo (Oceanside, CA) was right on her heels at 18:09.3 for 19th place. Junior Madison Smith (Redlands, CA) and freshman Lauren Roberts (Portland, OR) rounded out the Maroon and Gray's sub-20-minute performers for the shorter course, crossing the finish line in 19:11.50 and 19:34.40, respectively.
Watch the start of the women's race.
The Redlands cross country teams head to the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, September 15, at 7:30 a.m.
