IRVINE, Calif. - It was a fantastic Friday across the board for both Concordia University Irvine cross country teams up in the Bay Area.
Competing at the San Francisco Invitational in rare afternoon races, the CUI women won the San Francisco Invitational behind three standout performances at the top.
Ania Kapustka won the individual 5k race, crossing the finish line in 21 minutes and 44 seconds. Her Concordia teammate
Elizabeth King finished in third place sandwiched around Lex Craven from Cal Poly Humboldt, while junior
Emily Littlefield also moved in to the Top 10 and cross the line in ninth place.
The top five racers from each program score points, and rounding out the scoring quintet for Concordia was Oliva Reed (16th place) and
Adamara Esparza (17th place). The race plan worked to perfection as senior
Audrey Barcenas was directly behind those two talented freshmen and came in 18th place.
That means that six of the top 18 finishers in the women's race were all from Concordia. To put that in perspective, there were over 125 individual runners and Concordia easily bested Stanislaus State (second place - 67 points) and Chico State ( third place - 84 points) by compiling a paltry 42 points thanks to their great performances. Cal State East Bay and Azusa Pacific rounded out the Top 5 team scores, while D1 programs San Jose State and Saint Mary's were left in the dust.
The Concordia men had lots to celebrate out on the course as well. The Golden Eagles followed the ladies by placing third out of 14 squads in the men's race with 77 points. CUI narrowly missed topping second-place APU (70 points), while Chico State prevailed with a combined score of 45 points.
Leading the charge was
Noah Plaza, who shined for the second straight outing for the Green and Gold. Plaza powered his way to a runner-up finish, just five seconds behind individual winner Jackson Oliveira of Stanislaus State. Plaza completed the 8k course in 24 minutes and 22.7 seconds.
Fellow senior
Moises Benito and SAAC representative
Spencer Handorf crossed the line within three seconds of each other in 11th place and 12th place respectively. That gave Concordia three racers in the Top 12 and really helped their cause. Freshman
Dante Maldonado continued his impressive first year in uniform by clocking a time of 25 minutes and 45 seconds to make it into the Top 20 in 19th place.
Senior
Gavin Hellerstedt has showed great consistency all fall and shaved seconds off his time in every single race in 2025. He extended that trend as he placed 33rd out of all collegiate runners in this event, giving CUI three seniors as part of their scoring five.
Freshman
Logan Jones was only six seconds behind Hellerstedt for a solid 35th place finish on the day. Fellow first-year runners
Nathan Nguyen and
Owen Stults joined
Jonathan Warrick as Golden Eagles in the Top 50 of registered runners on Friday.
Next up for both CUI teams is the exciting PacWest Conference Championships which will be held this year out in Hawai'i later this month!
CLICK HERE for the full CUI women's cross country race
CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's cross country race
If the last two weeks are any indication, the Golden Eagles are in a groove and improving towards the most important part of their season - the conference and regional meets that are fast approaching.
