BELMONT, Calif. –The SF State's men's cross country team started the 2013 season right where they left last year off as the Gators captured the Crystal Springs Invitational this morning at the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course in Belmont, Calif. The Gators had five of the 10 place finishers led by Kurt Lutz's first place time of 26:48.

"Michael (Garaventa) ran aggressively early with Kurt (Lutz) and Benji (Preciedo) taking over in the second half," noted Gators' head coach Tom Lyons. "All three had their best days in a SF State uniform to lead the team to victory."

Lutz ran a time of 26:48 to capture the individual title in the 8K race, six seconds ahead of Cal State Monterey Bay's Ben Garland's time of 26:54.

Finishing in fifth place was Preciedo with a time of 27:31. Coming in behind Preciedo was Garaventa with a sixth place time of 28:00.

Senior Ryan Chio was the next Gator to cross the finish line with a eighth place time of 28:49 followed by Harjit Randhawa with an 12^th place time of 29:37. Also running for the Gators in his first race in over a year was senior Will Zentmyer who finished in 22nd place with a time of 30:53.

SF State will return to course in two weeks as the Gators will participate in the Sonoma State Invitational at the Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa Rosa, Calif., on September 21. The men's 8k race will start at 9:45am, preceded by the women's 6k race at 9am.


Men's 8K Results