2021 Sacramento State Invitational Results

ROCKLIN, Calif. – Hitting their stride both literally and figuratively, Academy of Art cross country turned in some of its races to date at the Sacramento State Invitational. All with season-bests, the top finishers through the courses at Johnson-Springview Park were junior Saba Khvichava as the runner-up and graduate student Abdelouakil Mustapha for the fourth-place men's team while the fourth-place women were paced by graduate student Hasna Kaarour, Natalia Novak, and Delanie Dykes all within the top 20.

Friday's 8k began with an impressive season-best from Khvichava who crossed the finish line in second overall between two runners from NCAA Division I Stanford, but did so with a time of 24:43.7 that clocked in at eighth in program history. The mark dropped five seconds off his previous best at the SF State Invitational.

Coming in at 26th overall (24th among toward team scoring) was Mustapha sporting his fastest 8k time in an ART U uniform by more than 20 seconds at 26:23.3. Next was graduate student Owen Day whose 26:34.4 mark put him 28th overall (25th toward team scoring). The final two qualifiers, juniors Hudson Lockette (27:02.0) and Markus Anderson Deakin (27:09.4), were separated by just seven seconds in 34th and 35th respectively (30th and 31st toward team scoring).

As a team, the men claimed fourth overall with 112 points, bettering fifth-place Cal State East Bay (123) the only other non-NCAA DI program in the meet. Though Stanford (38) had two of the top three individual qualifiers, including winner Robert DiDonato at 24:07.3, it was Cal (37) who just edged the Cardinal after all five Golden Bears wound up in the top 12.

"A solid team performance was turned in by the men highlighted by Saba's second-place finish and Abdelouakil's personal best for 8k," said Interim Head Coach Bruce Jackson. "Additionally, I was happy to see Markus return to competition after a long hiatus."

Ending the women's 6k with less than two seconds of separation, Kaarour delivered a season-best of 21:47.8 (faster by more than 45 seconds) and senior Natalia Novak offered a personal record of 21:49.1, for the 12th and 13th overall spots respectively. Both were ahead of the second runner from NCAA Division I Loyola Marymount and Novak remains sixth in program history with her new top 6k mark (topping her previous by one second).

Sophomore Delanie Dykes joined her teammates in the top 20 (19th toward team scoring) with a season-best of 22:27.6, knocking nearly 45 seconds off her mark at the SF State Invite. In 30th (28th toward team scoring) was redshirt junior Audrey Rosencrans at 22:55.9 while freshman Lina Hanich followed at 24:00.0 in 42nd (40th toward team scoring).

Coming into the meet ranked No. 23 in the country, the ART U women's squad ended up fourth as a team with 112 points, besting Loyola Marymount (119). Stanford (16) took first after all five of its qualifiers were among the top six led by the race's individual winner Zofia Dudek at 20:47.3. Sixth-place Cal State East Bay (149) was the only other non-NCAA DI program among the top eight.

"It was a good performance by the women today," Jackson said. "I enjoyed seeing them compete with some Division I West Coast schools. Upfront it was good to see Hasna and Natalia work together throughout the race. Additionally, Delanie had a nice bounce back meet."

The Urban Knights' final regular season competition prior to the PacWest Championships will be Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational taking place at Baylands Park on Oct. 16.