Pioneer Cross Country at Dominican

With their cross country season pushed to the Winter Quarter, the 2020-21 PUC Pioneer Cross Country team successfully completes their first race of the season last Sunday at the Dominican University Penguin Cross Country Invitational in San Rafael.

The weather was ideal for racing with cool, clear conditions. Within the Dominican campus, the course led runners from both men and women's teams through the beautiful campus in a fast 5K course. Participating schools included Holy Names, UC Merced and hosting team Dominican Penguins.

The Women's teams started the event with 12 athletes from the 4 participating schools. PUC newcomer Alma Ramirez (FR/Grass Valley, CA), represented the Women's Pioneers on the start. In her first collegiate race, Alma raced strong and finished in 8th place with a time of 23:32. The winning runner was Elizette Ysais from UC Merced, at 20:32.

The Men's team race followed on the same course with four Pioneers against ten runners from Dominican and UC Merced. New addition to the PUC team, sophomore Nathan Hiss led the PUC men in his first collegiate race, coming in 10th place with a time of 19:34. Senior Abraham Garrido followed close behind in 11th place with a PR at 20:30. Coming in at 13th, Cyrus Jones and 14th, Antonio Robles, the two senior runners finished with times of 23:28 and 25:52 respectively. Robles thankfully finished the race without the IT band pain that has nagged him early this year. The winning men's runner Jared Wright, with the Dominican Penguins finished with a time of 16:04.

No team scores were taken by the Pioneers, as the required five team members were not met. The athletes had a strong start for their 2020-2021 season finishing in full health. They look forward to competing again in 3 weeks time at their home course in the Pioneer Cross Country Invitational against a number of visiting teams.

Next race will be on Sunday March 14, at 11am at the Window Tree Meadow.