Rubi Shines in Her Cross Country Debut With Top-20 Finish at UC Irvine

IRVINE, Calif. -- Newcomer Gabriela Rubi led a field of six Toros at the Asics/UC Irvine Invitational with a time of 19:34 and a 13th place finish, bringing the Toros to a seventh place finish in the 5k event that consisted of 11 teams and 114 runners, good news for the Toros in only their second meet of the season.

Rubi made her first run as a Toro standout with only three other collegiate runners besting her, including fellow CCAA runner Samantha Borman of Cal State San Bernardino, who ran a 19:27 for 10th place.

With a time of 19:34, Rubi was a scant 18-seconds shy of placing her name on the Toros' all-time best top-30 list.

Leading the race was the Cal Coast Track & Cross-Country Club, with three runners in the top-10, while four unattached runners rounded out the top, including Shelby Buckley, who led all with a time of 17:52.

Overall, CSUDH impressed with Erica Biehl coming in at 36th with a time of 20:29, Dora Baldwin at 80th (22:41), Ines Mendoza at 95th (23:46), Destiny Tyler at 99th (24:01) and Nidia Padilla at 100th (24:04). Janette Morfin brought up the rear for the Toros with a time of 25:24 and 107th place.

Overall the Toros tallied an average time of 22:06 in the 5-kilomteter race, better than any meet in the 2008 season. Cal Coast was the overall winner with an average time of 19:30 on five runners.

With two meets now behind them, the Toros will next see action in one week as they take to UC Riverside for the UC Riverside Invitational. The 5k race is set to begin at 7:30am.

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