The Master’s University men’s cross country team’s top five runners finished ahead of all other Golden State Athletic Conference athletes Saturday at the UC Riverside Invitational, with Master’s senior Stephen Pacheco leading the way.

If Saturday was any indication of where TMU cross country stands early in the 2019 season, then the Mustangs are poised to make a strong run at their 10th straight conference title.

Pacheco finished 32nd in a men’s invitational 8K packed with NCAA Division 1 talent.

Master’s came in eighth as a team behind the likes of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California Baptist and UC Santa Barbara. GSAC rivals Vanguard finished 19th, Hope International 24th and Westmont 25th.

“It was a really, really strong showing,” said TMU coach Zach Schroeder.

On the women’s side, TMU’s Arianna Ghiorso finished 14th in the 3K women’s open division. She compiled a time of 18 minutes, 17 seconds and she led a Mustang team that was without No. 2 runner Morgan Gregory for the day.

Kimberly Page stepped in as the Mustangs’ second finisher, coming in 79th place in a time of 19:50.07. Fellow freshman Brooke Milam was next, finishing in 20:14.44.

“We had some freshmen really show up and run well today,” Schroeder said, pointing out a fact that also applied to his men’s team. Freshman Daniel Rush finished second for Master’s, placing 49th and finishing in a time of 25:16.16.

“He’s just a hungry, fierce freshman,” Schroeder said. “He ran amazing. (Freshman) Ethan Laubach was our No. 6 today and then Isaac Methum ran amazing as well. … All three of those guys showed up running in the big boy meet and it was impressive to see them run with so much poise especially in rough conditions.”

Temperatures were in the low 70s when the men’s team raced in the morning but were approaching 80 degrees as the women’s race began. It was a definite factor.

“Heat is a bigger detriment to times than even altitude,” Schroeder said. “Eighty is just real hot.”

And despite the Mustangs’ strong showing, Schroeder reminded his team to keep everything in perspective.

“It was a good day. But it’s only September,” Schroeder said. “We keep telling the kids, ‘Nobody cares what you do in September. It’s all about November.’ We have been training pretty hard so it was exciting to see it pay off today.”

— By Mason Nesbitt, TMU Sports Information Director