Baza Carillo, Khromets Record Lifetime PRs in Season Opener

Baza Carillo, Khromets Record Lifetime PRs in Season Opener

BREA, Calif. — In the first meet of the 2018 season, frontrunners Rigoberto Baza Carillo and Nikita Khromets both notched lifetime personal records in the 8K at the Mark Covert Classic. Overall, the Kingsmen finished 13th as a team in their division on the Carbon Canyon Regional Park course. 

Four Kingsmen broke the 29-minute mark, compared to just two at the same meet last year, and six broke the 30-minute mark compared to five last season. 

Khromets led the team at 27:14.3 and came in 56th. His time beats his personal career best by four seconds and was a minute and 53 seconds faster than his time recorded on the course in 2017. 

Also with a career-best, Baza Carillo came in 74th at 27:49.9, which is 28 seconds faster than he has ever notched in the Kingsmen uniform. 

Henry Friederichs and Connor Neufeld-Griffin followed closely behind at 97th and 100th, respectively. Friederichs crossed the line at 28:35.6, a full minute faster than last year and Neufeld-Griffin at 28:39.1, two minutes and fifty seconds off of last season's time on the course. 

The five freshmen also endured their first 8K race in purple this morning. Luke VanKeersbilck led the group in 123rd at 29:26.0. Behind him, Rudy Correa came in 134th (29:46.3), Jules Newberry in 161st (31:43.9), Xavier Reynoso in 167th (32:23.7), Dillan Barmache in 177th (36:37.8) and Connor Richter in 178th (36:39.5). 

Men's cross country continue their season on September 15 at the UC Riverside Invitational on the UCR Agricultural Operations Course.

 

Interview with Baza Carillo and VanKeersbilck: https://youtu.be/NdW321ECL38
Meet Results: Mark Covert Classic
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Release by Christy Effendie, Assistant Sports Information Director