Aztecs Competing in Capital Cross Challenge Saturday

Meet Week Preview
Capital Cross Challenge (6K)
Saturday, Sept. 29 | 10:30 a.m. PT | Arcade Creek 6k Course at Haggin Oaks Golf Course | Sacramento, Calif.

The San Diego State cross country team heads to the state capital to compete in the annual Capital Cross Challenge this Saturday. The 6k race begins at 10:30 a.m. and live results will be available on GoAztecs.com. The course uses nine holes of the complex's Arcade Creek golf course following an outer and inner horseshoe design. Almost all of the running on the flat course will occur on well-maintained fairways. Seven Aztecs, once again all freshmen, will be competing: Paige Comiso, Caitlyn Couch, Marissa D'Atri, Alize Hartke, Renee Laurenzana, Carlene Masar, and Natalie Regalado. The field is comprised of the following DI teams: California, Cal State Northridge, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Hawaii, Loyola Marymount, New Mexico State, Pepperdine, Sacramento State, San Diego State, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, UC Davis and UC Irvine. Also competing are: Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State East Bay, Chico State, Concordia, Dominican, Holy Names, Notre Dame de Namur, San Francisco State, Sierra Nevada College, Sonoma State, Southern Oregon, Stanislaus State, Strava TC, UC Davis Track Club and UC Santa Cruz.
 
Last Time Out
The Aztecs placed seventh out of 21 teams at the Riverside Invitational 6k two weeks ago. Caitlyn Couch (21:46.6) and Carlene Masar (21:47.0) were the top Aztecs runners, finishing in 41st an 42nd place (out of 170 runners) respectively. The rest of the SDSU top five consisted of Renee Laurenzana (50th; 21:56.0), Paige Comiso (60th; 22:09.4) and Marissa D'Atri (67th; 22:16.2).
 
"Once again, this all freshmen group,  ran and competed as a team," Coach Robert Lusitana said after the race. "Led by Caitlyn Couch, Carlene Masar and Renee Laurenzana, the spread from our first to fifth girl was under 30 seconds."
 
Aztec Storylines
• San Diego State has run the Arcade Creek 6K Course at Haggin Oaks Golf Course four times since 2013. Their best finish came in 2016 when they finished eighth with a team time of 1:49.46.7, led by Elaine Ribeiro (21:22.3) and Christine Kent (21:25.3). Last year, the Aztecs took 15th and were led by Lily Seynaeve (21:32.0).

• Alize Hartke ran in the High School 5K section of the Capital Cross Challenge last year and placed second with a 17:54.1 mark.

• In their last race, Caitlyn Couch and Carlene Masar were just seven seconds away from being the tenth fastest Aztec in program history in the 6k. It was the first collegiate 6k for both runners.