TORRANCE, Calif. - It was a fitting send off for men's cross country head coach Jason Zarb-Cousin as LMU took the top spot in the men's collegiate open in the South Bay Twilight meet in Torrance, Calif. On Friday night.
Roberto Ruelas defended his men's open title after taking the top spot in 2022. The senior finished the 8K course in 24:14.3, almost 22 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.
The Lions took five of the top eight spots in the meet, with Jacob Wiggers finishing well in his first meet in the LMU colors. The Alabama transfer finished fifth overall, with a time of 24:59.7.
Richard McLain, Will Luders, Daniel Vaca and Cy Teruel all finished in the top 10 as well, with
Shane Ely not far behind in 12
th. The LMU men finished with a low score of 23 points, besting the second place UCLA Bruins by 13 points to take the meet victory.
Luders and Teruel had very significant finishes. Luders bested his previous 8K best by over 43 seconds. Teruel finished in the top 10 in his collegiate and 8K debut.
"Coach Zarb has poured his heart and soul into the LMU program and into building the home meet. What a great farewell, with the team taking the win and Roberto defending his individual title in dominant fashion. I'm so proud of our team for how they've handled the transition between coaches - change is not easy but they've responded by focusing on what they can control and that showed tonight," said now-head coach
Chloe Curtis.
The Lions will be back on the course on September 9 at Pepperdine to preview the WCC Championship course.
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