Arreola, Northridge Men Post Significant Victories

Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge made a triumphant return to the cross-country wars, and the Matadors’ men’s team won its first major meet in more than a decade at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday.

Arreola, who redshirted last cross-country season, ran 17 minutes, 13.7 seconds over the 5,000-meter course to win the women’s race and help Northridge to a second-place finish behind Cal State Los Angeles, 71-92.

Northridge defeated UC Riverside, 63-75, for the men’s team title.

Riverside, 10th in last year’s NCAA Division II championships, placed three runners among the top eight finishers, but Northridge countered with its superior depth, placing five men among the top 21.

Sasha Vujic, a sophomore from Burroughs High, ran 24:33.5 over the five-mile course and placed third.

Vujic was fifth with 300 meters left but gunned down John Maegher (24:35.0) of Riverside City College and Tim Watson (24:36.7)--running unattached--in the homestretch.

“I just told myself to keep going, to just keep concentrating,” Vujic said.

After running with the leaders for the first two miles (9:46), Vujic almost dropped off the pace on several occasions during the third and fourth miles, but he held on each time.

“There were a few times when I thought they were going to break me,” Vujic said. “But I just told myself to concentrate and not worry about splits and times. I was thinking too much.”

Shannon Winkleman of UC Riverside surged immediately after the four-mile mark (19:37) in an effort to break open the race, but Goshu Tadese of Point Loma Nazarene surged past him with 500 meters to go to win in 24:17.8. Winkleman finished second in 24:24.7.

After Vujic, juniors Jorge Castro and Derik Vett placed 10th and 12th for Northridge, running 25:08 and 25:10.7, respectively. Freshman Jorge Rodriguez (25:24.6) and sophomore Jeff Gilkey (25:26.5) rounded out the Matador scoring in 17th and 21st.

Jose Garcia of Occidental placed 19th in 25:25.5.

“Our grouping is getting tighter every week,” Vujic said. “I almost guarantee we’ll make nationals if it stays that way.”

Although Arreola said that she is “nowhere close” to being in top shape, she is expected to be one of the favorites in the Division II championships, which will be held in East Stroudsburg, Pa., in November.

Arreola, who placed 11th in the Division II meet in 1986 and fifth in ‘87, went out conservatively Saturday, then broke the race open after the first mile.

She held a six-second lead over Buffy Rabbitt of UC Irvine at two miles (10:56 to 11:02) and maintained it to the finish.

“I didn’t really feel too rusty,” Arreola said. “But I had forgotten how much cross-country hurts, how painful it is. . . . I actually felt better at the end than I usually feel, because the first mile was so slow.”

Kelly Tremmell (18:13.9) and Laura Doering (18:32.7) were the Lady Matadors’ Nos. 2 and 3 runners in 10th and 16th.

Occidental’s Laurie Schuster finished 13th in 18:24.1.

Gena Jauregui, a Division II All-American for Northridge last season, did not run because of a thyroid infection.