Long Beach State's Jesus Santana and Jennifer Rodriguez were honored as the Big West Cross Country Athletes of the Week for their performances at the Triton Invitational last week.

Santana, a senior from Riverside, CA, finished 20th in the men's 8K race with an unofficial time of 26:51.9, tops among Big West racers. The times from the race were unofficial due to several competitors being sent the wrong way in the course.

Rodriguez, a freshman from Torrance, CA, completed the 6K course in 24:03.4, 25th in a field of 155 competitors. It was the first 6K race of her collegiate career.

Important Week Ahead for Big West Cross Country Squads

With the conference championship meet just two weeks away, the Big West cross country squads are gearing up for the meet against some big-time competition.

Cal Poly will welcome Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and Pacific among others to San Luis Obispo for the Cal Poly Invitational. The men's squads will compete in an 8K race, while the women's competition will be a 6K affair.

Three clubs will send a squad to Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, IN to compete against some of the top squads in the country. Long Beach State will send their women's contingent, UC Irvine will send both squads and the #8 UC Santa Barbara women's team will compete as well.

Two more clubs round out the busy weekend schedule as Cal State Fullerton competes in the Santa Clara Invitational and UC Riverside heads to Fayetteville, AR to partipate in the 18th annual Chili Pepper Festival. The meet will attract over 40 Division I and II schools including hst #2 Arkansas, #11 UTEP and #17 Alabama on the men’s side, and #4 Arkansas, #15 Oklahoma State and #19 Baylor on the women’s end.