UC Irvine’s Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams placed first in their respective events at Mason Regional Park on Sept. 5 at the Vanguard Invitational.
The first race of the event was the Men’s 8K with the Anteater’s sophomore Juan Chantaca coming in first with a time of 24:05.8. Following close behind his teammate, freshman Ziyad Abdallah clocked in at 24:57.4 in fourth place at his first collegiate race.
Fifth and sixth place were taken by the ‘Eaters junior Jimmy Markowicz at 25:01.7 and freshman Mark McAleenan Jr. at 25:18.1. UCI’s fifth man to cross the finish line at 25:34.6 was sophomore Omar Reyes.
Trailing behind his teammates, sophomore Angel Cordero — who was the 2025 Big West Men’s Track & Field Freshman of the Year — finished in 13th with a time of 26:13.5.
The final Anteater to cross the finish line in 17th place was freshman Javin Schmitt at 26:42.8, falling less than two seconds behind Vanguard’s senior runner Cooper Anderson at 26:41.1.
With their top five runners finishing in first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth respectively, UCI scored a team total of 25 points and ended the race in first place. They concluded the race with a team time of 2:04:58. UC Irvine averaged 25 minutes for the race with an average mile time of 5:02.
Following the Men’s Cross Country team’s victory, the UCI’s Women’s Cross Country team concluded the day with their own first place victory. The Anteater’s Women’s team dominated the top five spots of the 5K race.
Sophomore Liana Lee led the race and the Anteaters’ team in first at 17:43.4. Sophomore Anna Soares trailed closely behind four seconds later at 17:47.6 for second place.
In third came sophomore Rachel Moen at 17:51.1 for the ‘Eaters with freshman Grace Baxter following a second behind for fourth with a time of 17:52.2.
Fifth place was secured by junior Marjourie Lopez at 17:54.6, allowing for UCI to take the overall win with 15 points.
The remaining four Anteater runners ranked in the top-20, which included senior Nicole Contreras in 11th at 18:33.5 and sophomore Malia Leupold right after in 12th at 18:42.4. Sophomore Breckyn Kornachuk placed 17th with a time of 19:06.8, and freshman Avery Hutchison in 19th at 19:55.7.
Coming in first overall, UCI Women’s team time was 1:29:09. The top five runners averaged 17:50 with each mile averaging 5:45.
Coming off a strong 2025 season starter, both the Men’s and Women’s teams will head to Riverside for the UC Riverside Invitational at UCR Ag Ops Course on Sep. 27 as the women start their race at 7:15 am for their second contest of the season.
Gissel Delgado is a Sports Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. She can be reached at gissead1@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Annabelle Aguirre