UC Merced cross country sending two to NAIA National Championships

It wasn’t quite the team performances UC Merced hoped for, but two individuals extended their seasons at the Cal Pac Cross Country Championship on Monday.

The Bobcats matched their team finishes from a season ago with the men placing second and the women taking third at Woodward Park in Fresno. Embry-Riddle of Arizona grabbed Cal Pac crowns for both with convincing performances.

While UC Merced came up empty in its bids for a first Cal Pac title, runners Guillermo Rivas and Erika Ochoa each secured a place in the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 19 in Elsah, Ill.

Ochoa placed sixth overall in the women’s 5K race with a time of 19 minutes, 41.2 seconds. The junior cut more than a minute off the time she turned in a year ago. Rivas finished eighth in the men’s 8K race, just outpacing teammate Anthony Tyler with a time of 26:33.2. Tyler was ninth in 26:40.1.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 7:08 PM with the headline "UC Merced cross country sending two to NAIA National Championships."