(Palo Alto, CA) The Mt. SAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams traveled north to Palo Alto and competed against four-year colleges and universities in the Stanford Invitational on Saturday September 29.

After a year hiatus the 44th Stanford Invitational returned, hosting over 4,000 runners from high school, NCAA Division I, II and III and community colleges.

Leading the way for the women in the 6K (3.73 miles) race was Rebecca Ruiz and for the men in the 8K (4.97 miles) was Salvador Capetillo, which was held on the Stanford Golf Course.

As a team the Mt. SAC Women finished 18th and Ruiz led the Mountie runners with a time of 23:07.3 (87th place).

Other Mt. SAC Women's place and times:

Sadie Encinas, 131st – 24:31.3

Montserrath Celis, 138th – 24:55.5

Andrea Diaz, 144th – 25:33.9

Yesenia Flores, 146th – 25:50.2

Chloe Davis, 157th – 26:39.4

Alyssa Cantrell, 159th – 26:40.8

The men finished 12th out of 18 teams, which included top universities such as Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State. The Mounties were one of only three community colleges in the event.

Capetillo, who averaged just under a five-minute mile (4:59.6), placed 21st out of 184 runners with a time of 24:49.2, which was just over a minute behind the first-place runner.

Other Mt. SAC Men's place and times:

Colby Penn, 74th – 26:04.8

Chris Weiland, 96th – 26:34.4

Ralph Mendoza, 113th- 26:56.1

Luis Huerta, 114th – 26:57.7

Adrian Hernandez, Jr., 120th – 27:07.5

Vincent Orta, 156th – 28:06.9

Both the Mt. SAC men's and women's teams will compete this Saturday October 6 in the Brubaker Invitational at the Irvine Regional Park.

Follow Mt. SAC Cross Country on twitter @MtSAC_XC or on Instagram @mountiexc

Follow Mt. SAC Athletics on twitter @MtSAC_athletics or Facebook @Mountie.Athletics

For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.