OAKLAND – Senior Alfonso Paez’s eight kilometer time of 32 minutes, 33 seconds paced four Oak runners in the top 20 as the Menlo College men’s cross country team placed second at Friday’s 18th Annual Mills College Cross Country Invitational. Freshman Shareese Mulholland paced the Menlo women’s team to a fourth-place showing, finishing the five-kilometer course in 24:00, good enough for 11th place individually.

Following Paez in the men’s race was junior Pablo Sanchez (32:33) in 17th, freshman Craig Ryan (34:49) in 19th and senior Joe Garcia (35:02) in 20th. Sophomore John Hayworth’s 22nd place finish (36:33) round out the top five for the Oaks.

Menlo finished with 35 points, runner up to UC Santa Cruz (15) overall but first among small schools.

The Banana Slugs’ Shogo Osawa won the men’s race at 28:38.

Following Mulholland in the women’s race was senior Becky Tavera (25:06) in 21st, junior Sabrina Lancelotti (27:00) in 27th, freshman J’aime Sage (27:07) in 28th and freshman Ashley Evans-Smith (27:54) in 30th. The Oaks completed the race with 84 points while CSU East Bay won the event with 32.

Jillian Rothgeb of Pacific Union captured the women’s title at 19:29.

The Oaks resume action Sat., Oct. 22 at the Jim Hunt Invitational in Rocklin.

Cross Country Result
18th Annual Mills College Cross Country Invitational
Oct. 14, 2005

Men 8K (five miles) – Top five plus Menlo scorers
1.  Shogo Osawa (Independent)          28:38
2.  Patrick Lane (Independent)         29:01
3.  Joe Kaufman (William Jessup)       29:29
4.  Jacob Rydman (William Jessup)      30:05
5.  Tom Harrer (William Jessup)        30:18
14. Alfonso Paez (Menlo)               32:33
17. Pablo Sanchez (Menlo)              34:00
19. Craig Ryan (Menlo)                 34:49
20. Joe Garcia (Menlo)                 35:02
22. John Hayworth (Menlo)              36:33

Women 5K (3.1 miles)
1.  Jillian Rothgeb (Pacific Union)    19:29
2.  Sara Kelly (William Jessup)        19:49
3.  Roberta Green (CSU East Bay)       20:41
4.  Amanda Gillming (William Jessup)   20:57
5.  Marrield Berry (UC Santa Cruz)     21:17
11. Shareese Mulholland (Menlo)        24:00
21. Becky Tavera (Menlo)               25:06
27. Sabrina Lancelotti (Menlo)         27:00
28. J’aime Sage (Menlo)                27:07
30. Ashley Evans-Smith (Menlo)         27:54

Teams
Men
1.  UC Santa Cruz                      15
2.  Menlo                              35
3.  Pacific Union                      INC
4.  Holy Names                         INC
5.  William Jessup                     INC

Women
1.  CSU East Bay                       32
2.  Pacific Union                      46
3.  Mills College                      55
4.  Menlo                              84
5.  Holy Names                         INC
6.  William Jessup                     INC