Ybarra Takes 35th Vs. 4-Year Runners

LA JOLLA (10-08-2016) -- Palomar freshman cross country runner Mark Ybarra took 35th place in a field of 94 against primarily four-year college opponents Friday in the men's race at the 24th Triton Classic at UC San Diego's North Campus Course.

Ybarra ran the 8-kilometer course in 27:19.64, the third best time among the California community college runners in the race.

Gilbert Kigen from Central Arizona Community College in Coolidge, AZ, won the race in 24:42.55. Chico State's William Reyes ran 25:04.18 in placing second.

Palomar's second finisher in the race was Edward Romero in 68th place.

Chico State won the men's team title with 23 points. Central Arizona was second with 51 points, and UC San Diego took third with 57 points. Palomar had 208 points in placing seventh in the nine-team field.

In the women's race, Grace Agyan was the top Palomar finisher. She was 76th out of 115 runners with a 26:49.76 over a 5K course.

Agyan had the second fastest time among California community college runners in the race.

Point Loma Nazarene University won the women's championship with 54 points, followed by Chico State (60 points) in second place and UC San Diego (69 points) in third. Palomar placed 10th out of 12 teams with 316 points