RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The LMU women's cross country team finished 12th among 20 teams at the UC Riverside Highlander Invitational on Saturday, racing the 6K Agricultural Operations Course against a loaded field that included several top NCAA West Region programs. 

UC Santa Barbara won the team title, totaling 78 points, with the Lions scoring 321. LMU was the top WCC finisher, placing ahead of conference foes San Diego (16th, 414 points), a goal the Lions had set for the meet. 

LMU saw three competitors run personal bests on the day, led by Senior Rylee Guinn, who finished in 9th place with a time of 20:39.0, the 10th fastest in LMU history. 

Junior Ava Boyd placed 17th with a time of 20:56.3, also climbing up the LMU leaderboard as the 15th fastest all-time but falling 7 tenths of a second short of her coach Chloe Curtis' 14th best program time. 

Sophomore Collette Heil was the final Lion to record a PR, running 22:42.7 and finishing in 148th place. 

Seniors Tessa Kline (115th, 22:15.8), Emma Ronan (125th, 22:27.8), Ruby Tiburcio (149th, 22:43.3), and a breakout performance from Freshman Payton Wagner (135th, 22:35.1) rounded out the scorers for the Lions. 

Seniors Kasia Holland (162nd, 22:56.4), Alex Zanon (170th, 23:10.6), Junior Hannah Neff (190th, 23:40.9), and Freshman Emma Beedon (211th, 24:43.0) also raced for the Lions on Saturday. 

"I'm proud of the way we competed against a strong field today," said Head Coach Chloe Curtis. "Big props to Rylee and Ava for moving up the all-time program rankings, and to Kasia, Payton and Collette for their standout performances."

Next up, LMU will travel to San Diego for the WCC Championships on Friday, October 30th.

"Finishing as the top WCC team was our main goal, and we'll use this experience to build momentum and sharpen our focus as we prepare for the conference championships," said Curtis.