Sept. 11, 2010

Turlock, Calif. - The Pacific women's cross country team picked up a fifth place finish at the Stanislaus Invitational in Turlock, Calif. on Saturday, September 11.

Freshman Melisa Hopper (San Jose, Calif.) again led the Tigers in the 6K event, with a 13th place individual finish. The freshman paced the team with a time of 24:15 to pace the team.

Sophomore Jazmin Quiroz (San Jose, Calif.) topped her personal best by 15 seconds with a 25:11 to place 23rd and senior Katie Bella (Beavercreek, Ore.) finished in 33rd with a 26:40.

"This was the first 6K of the year and the first 6K ever for a lot of the ladies, said head coach Josh Jones. "We ran a really solid race. Melissa had a good learning experience. She was about 15 seconds off what I thought she might do, but she is a competitor and a learner. We focused on patience and running our own race, which most of the ladies really did well."

The Tigers get back on the course on Saturday, September 18 when they run at the Mills College XC Invite in Oakland, Calif. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am.