SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos women's and men's cross country teams defended home turf, winning their respective races at the 8th Annual Cougar Challenge. The women's squad has won the event each year it has been held and the men's team claimed victory for the fourth year in a row.

Aholibama Velazquez was the top collegiate runner and finished second overall to lead the women to the win. Freshman Eric Constante placed second among collegiate runners and 13th overall in guiding the triumphant men's team.
 
Velazquez (18:03) ran a 5,000-meter personal-best to finish first among collegiate runners, the fifth consecutive year a Cougar has achieved top honors. The women's team collected 17 points (1-2-3-5-6), finishing 37 points ahead of runner-up Mesa College. Soka placed third with 77 points.
 
Charlotte Kuzminsky (18:38) finished seventh overall and Tina Girolamo ran a course personal-best (18:46) to place tenth overall. Alyssa Omahen (19:10) and Paula Stonehouse (19:11) finished 14th and 15th, respectively, to round out the scoring for the Cougars.
 
Cougar assistant coach Paige Mills placed first overall in the women's race with a time of 17:54.
 
On the men's side, Constante (26:58) set a personal-best in the 8,000-meter race to finish 13th overall. The men's squad finished with 28 points (2-4-6-7-9) to secure the win for CSUSM. Mesa College took second with 53 points to narrowly defeat Cuyamaca College, which placed third with 54 points.
 
Joining Constante in the overall top 20 were Joe Gonzalez (27:05) and Anthony Girolamo (27:13) who finished 15th and 17th, respectively. Ryan Maize (27:51) finished 23rd overall and A.J. Freund (28:12) placed 29th overall.
 
The Cougars will close out the season at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Conference Championships on Sunday, Oct. 25. The top ten runners from both the women's and men's squads were held out of the Cougar Challenge in preparation for the race, which will be run on the same course as the San Francisco State Invitational. This will be the first championship competition for Cal State San Marcos as a NCAA Division II institution.
 
WOMEN'S 5K TEAM SCORES:
1. Cal State San Marcos – 17
2. Mesa College – 54
3. Soka – 77
4. San Bernardino Valley College – 84

WOMEN'S 5K INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Top 5 Runners of 89 + CSUSM Runners):
1. Paige Mills (Unattached) – 17:54
2. Aholibama Velazquez (CSUSM) – 18:03
3. Cortney Staruch (Unattached) – 18:03
4. Erin Menefee (Unattached) – 18:18
5. Hilary Corno (Unattached) – 18:21
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7. Charlotte Kuzminsky (CSUSM) – 18:38
10. Tina Girolamo (CSUSM) – 18:46
14. Alyssa Omahen (CSUSM) – 19:10
15. Paula Stonehouse (CSUSM) – 19:11
20. Diana Rubalcava (CSUSM) – 19:43
25. Lisa Flora (CSUSM) – 20:06
41. Jocelyn Veyna (CSUSM) – 21:15 
42. Jessica Silveira (CSUSM) – 21:17
62. Riley Heber (CSUSM) – 23:34

MEN'S 8K TEAM SCORES:
1. Cal State San Marcos – 28
2. Mesa College – 53
3. Cuyamaca College – 54
4. Soka – 84
 
MEN'S 8K INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Top 5 of 109 Runners + CSUSM Runners):
1. Nick Scarpello (Unattached) – 25:30
2. Deng Akuien (Unattached) – 25:45
3. Steven Underwood (Unattached) – 25:48
4. Jack Evans (Soka) – 25:53
5. Matthew Seat (Unattached) – 26:18
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13. Eric Constante (CSUSM) – 26:58
15. Joe Gonzalez (CSUSM) – 27:05
17. Anthony Girolamo (CSUSM) – 27:13
23. Ryan Maize (CSUSM) – 27:51
29. A.J. Freund (CSUSM) – 28:12