Matadors Not Too High in Big Sky

Based on their coach’s pre-meet standards, Cal State Northridge turned in solid performances Saturday, the men placing sixth and the women finishing seventh in their first Big Sky Conference championship cross-country meet.

Northridge Coach Don Strametz said Friday he would consider the Matadors’ inaugural Big Sky meet competition at Schneiter’s Riverside Golf Course at Riverdale, Utah, to be a great success if the men and women finished fifth among the nine-team fields.

The men, paced by the 12th-place finish of sophomore Javier Ramirez, came close with 149 points to finish nine points behind fourth-place Sacramento State and six back of fifth-place Montana State.

Northern Arizona, the sixth-ranked team in the nation, swept the top three places and totaled 20 points. The Lumberjacks were followed by Weber State with 61 points and Idaho State with 91.

Ramirez clocked 25 minutes 28 seconds over the 8,000-meter course and freshman Will Bernaldo, former Nordhoff High teammate of Ramirez, placed 25th in 26:17 for Northridge.

The Matadors’ other scoring runners were junior Oswaldo Servin, who was 30th in 26:26, sophomore John Greene, who finished 33rd in 26:29, and freshman Jesse Barragan, who came in 49th in 27:45.

In the women’s meet, junior Jamie Whitmore placed 22nd with a time of 18:32 over the 5,000-meter course and freshman Shana Driscoll finished 28th in 18:50 to lead Northridge to a 180-point total.

Northern Arizona, the 10th-ranked team in the nation, placed five runners among the top 11 finishers to win the title with 30 points. Weber State, ranked 14th, finished second with 49 points.

In other meets Saturday, Pepperdine junior Chris Shaw placed 10th in the West Coast Conference meet in Belmont, Calif., to pace the Waves to a fifth-place finish.