TUCSON, AZ – The Loyola Marymount University Lions men's and women's track teams were in the desert this weekend and competed in the Willie Williams Classic. 
 
The Lion women competed in the 5000m and were led by Claire Graves' first place finishing time of 17:37.28. Graves was followed by Sophia Cortina and Shelby Page who finished in seventh and eighth place with times of 19:16.66 and 19:16.77, respectively.
 
In the women's 1500m Lauren Wagner paced all LMU runners when she crossed the finish line in eighth place with a time of 4:40.09. Wagner was followed by Samantha Barajas and Raina Hines who finished in 14^th and 17^th with times of 4:48.92 and 4:52.61. Kaitlyn Childress and Stella Skovborg finished in 21^st and 23^rd place giving the Lions five runners in the top 25. 
 
The men's team was led by the first place finishing performance of Estanis Ruiz in the 3000m steeplechase. Ruiz, coming off a first place finish in the men's 1500m last week in the Oxy Invite, kept up his momentum when he finished first at 9:13.65. 
 
In the men's 1500m Cooper McCarthy finished in 12^th place with a time of 3:58.51 and was followed by Shane Ely who crossed the line at 4:05.01. Miguel Barrera-Lopez and William Luders were next for LMU with finishing times of 4:08.67 and 4:09.13. 
 
The men's 5000m saw the Lions post four runners in the top 10. Roberto Ruelas led all Lions runners with a fourth place finishing time of 14:51.87 and Adam Trafecanty was right behind him in fifth place at 14:56.23. Rounding out the Lion top 10 finishers was Hunter Krasa in ninth at 15:19.06 and Zach Arias in 10^th at 15:19.20.
 
The Lions return to the track next weekend for the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival on Friday, March 25^th and the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational on Saturday, March 26^th on the campus of UCLA.