UC Irvine's Laura Olvera made her collegiate debut a memorable one as the redshirt freshman finished in third place out of 179 collegiate runners at the UCI Invitational.
Long Beach State's Dylan Jaedtke and UC Irvine's Laura Olvera were named Big West Male and Female Cross Country Athletes of the Week after both finished in the top 10 at the UC Irvine Invitational, which took place at Central Park in Huntington Beach last Saturday. Both runners were making their collegiate debuts in winning the awards.
Jaedtke, a true freshman from Simi Valley, Calif., finished 10th overall and eighth among 132 collegiate runners in a time of 23:07.6 on the 7,000 meter course. Jaedtke was one of four 49er runners to end up in the top 20, leading to a second place team finish.
Olvera, a redshirt freshman from Whittier, Calif., came in third place out of 179 collegiate runners. Her time of 18:38.7 for the 5,000 meter distance was nearly two minutes faster than her performance on the same course a year ago when she competed unattached. Olvera led a pack of UCI runners that all finished in the top 20, helping the Anteaters to second place in the team standings.