RIVERSIDE, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV junior Natalia Ruiz took first place in school-record fashion at the UC Riverside Invitational Saturday morning at UCR's Agricultural Operations Course.
In her first competition of the 2023 season, Ruiz ran the 5K in a time of 17:02.2, which was also a personal record, finishing almost 20 seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Emily Morden from Utah Valley.
The UNLV record had stood for almost 35 years as Angie Fortner had set it back in 1988 at the NCAA West Regional with a time of 17:04.0.
Two other Rebel runners placed in the top 20 at the event Saturday as fifth-year senior LaKyla Yazzie was 12th with a personal-record time of 18:16.2 and senior Isabella Schrader finished 18th with a personal record time of 18:27.8.
In total, six UNLV student-athletes set lifetime bests and seven set collegiate personal records on the course.
As a team, UNLV finished fourth with 150 points and an average time of 18:31. Utah Valley captured the team title. There were a total of 21 teams and 240 individuals competing.
Also running for UNLV were freshman Eliana Rivera (PR 19:15), sophomore Nicole Boskovich (collegiate PR 19:31.5), junior Aitza Romero (PR 19:49.8), senior Jaida Lyles, freshman Makenzie Yazzie (PR 19:59.8) and freshman Alana Sangprasit.
It was the second competition of the season for the Rebel cross country team, which is under new UNLV track & field/cross country head coach Carmelita Jeter and cross country assistant coach Adam Meyer.
NEXT FOR THE REBELS: UNLV's next meet will be Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 a.m. at the Dave Murray Invitational in Tucson, Arizona.
