Riverside, Calif. – – The Pacific women's cross country team set a school record for time at the Big West Championship Saturday morning at UC Riverside Ag/Ops Course, led by freshman Katie Castro.
The Tigers shaved 51 seconds off their school record best BWC time, totaling in 2:01:22 for seven runners. The mark topped the previous best of 2:02:13.2 set in 2005.
Castro set a new personal best and broke the Pacific freshman record for fastest personal best with a time of 23:08, topping the old mark teammate Melissa Hopper set last season by three seconds, and improving on her own personal best by 13 seconds.
Freshman Rebecca Tuttle and sophomore Cassi Rush also turned in personal bests, as Tuttle's time of 24:30 was 17 seconds quicker than her previous mark.
"It feels great to be a part of a team at Pacific that made history and to be on a team that plans to break the school record year after year," Tuttle said.
Rush finished in 25:21, a full 55 seconds better than her previous personal best.
"I am so proud of my teammates for giving it everything they had up to that finish line, and achieving the fastest team time in Pacific history," added Rush. "I could not have hoped for a better end to my season."
"Any time you break a school record its is a good day," head coach Josh Jones said. "The ladies goal at the beginning of the year is to get the school record for team time and that is what they did. We had three runners set personal records and Katie setting a freshman school record. Overall a very positive day."
Castro placed 56th while sophomore Melissa Hopper was the second Tiger across the line in 66th with a time of 23:47. Tuttle placed 69th, with senior Jazmin Quiroz right behind with a time of 24:34, rounding out the Tigers' scoring. Senior Monica Torres turned in a time of 26:09.
Long Beach State senior Rosa Del Toro won the individual championship, with UC Davis taking the team title. Pacific placed ninth with 281 points.
"I couldn't be more proud of the team. These ladies just work hard and I truly could not ask for a better group to build this program. These past two years, we've improved our time by 14 minutes as a team with only two graduating seniors. We have a strong future in front of us. Today was a great moment for Pacific Cross Country," Jones concluded.
