BIG WEST CROSS-COUNTRY : Irvine Women Dominate Field, Men Edge Fresno

When you’re No. 1 on the West Coast and No. 10 in the nation there really is nothing big about the Big West Conference cross-country championships.

Except, of course, your margin of victory. Try 83 points, as in UC Irvine 23, Cal State Long Beach 106.

How total was Irvine’s domination? Well, besides having the top two runners, senior Brigid Stirling (17:12.2) and junior Buffy Rabbitt (17:22.5), Irvine had two other women in the top six on the 5,000-meter course.

Caroline Plier (17:59.5) finished fourth, and Rayna Cervantes (18:04.5) was sixth.

Afterward, Irvine Coach Vince O’Boyle wasn’t exactly handing out kudos.

“They ran well, but it was not their best race of the year,” he said.

The women, O’Boyle explained, were saving something for bigger races ahead, such as the NCAA championships.

Not so for the Irvine men.

They went into the meet knowing that their leading runner, Aaron Mascorro, had not run all week because of a hamstring pull, and would not be in top form. They knew that if they were to unseat Fresno State as conference champion, they would have to pull together and run as a team, something O’Boyle says they had not done often this season. And they knew they would have to forget that Fresno had beaten them convincingly at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo two weeks ago.

They knew they had every excuse to lose. But they didn’t.

Although Fresno’s Jason Lienau broke the tape at 24:48, Irvine took the next four places, and took the team title by edging Fresno, 26-31.

Mascorro’s hamstring nagged him at the beginning of the race, and his leg muscles tightened halfway through, but at the two-mile mark, he took the lead and set the pace until the last half-mile of the 8,000-meter course. Lienau passed him to win, and Mascorro finished second in 24:54.4.

“It’s better for me to lead because that way I don’t feel the pressure of being in a group,” Mascorro said. “If I’m running by myself, I can relax more.”

Fortunately for Irvine, Mascorro really wasn’t running by himself--three teammates finished within 32 seconds of him, and Irvine took second through fifth.

Behind Mascorro were Steve Imlay (25:01.6), Ben Ayers (25:14.2) and Scott Laforce (25:15).

Fresno made it close by taking sixth through 10th, losing the championship by five points. “The key thing was that it was a team performance,” O’Boyle said. “We knew we had to run as a team to win, and we haven’t been doing that a lot this year.”

What brought Irvine over the top, O’Boyle said, was the performance of Laforce, a senior who saved his best for last.

“He’s been doing OK this year,” O’Boyle said. “But not this good. And he really came through because we needed him up there this time.”

The Cal State Fullerton women had their best showing in a conference championship, finishing third with 109 points. Beth Rosipajla (18:16.5.) was Fullerton’s top finisher, seventh overall. Fullerton’s men placed fourth with 122 points. Santa Barbara was third with 95 points. Ray Trujillo (25:38.3) was Fullerton’s top runner, 11th overall.