SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's cross country teams will travel to the Midwest on Saturday to compete in the Eighth-Annual Lewis Crossover in Romeoville, Illinois. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The men's team placed fifth and the women's team finished seventh at the Cougar Challenge on Sept. 23. 
• Renton McGregor was the men's top runner for CSUSM with a time of 25:06.7 for 15th place.
• On the women's side, Carly Schuerger set the pace for CSUSM with a 30th-place finish with a time of 21:58.6. 

LEWIS CROSSOVER BREAKDOWN

• This marks the fifth consecutive year CSUSM has competed in the Lewis Crossover. 
• Last season, the men's team took 10th while the women's team placed 12th at the Lewis Crossover. 
• Ruben Piña (24:46.3) and Renee Laurenzana (22:33.3) both placed 27th to lead the Cougars in 2022. 
• The CSUSM men's best finish at the Lewis Crossover was in 2019 with a seventh-place finish. 
• The Cougar women's team placed 10th on two different occasions (2019, 2021). 
• In CSUSM's inaugural Lewis Crossover appearance, Lisa Flora took 21st place (22:39.6) in 2018, which has yet to be beaten as the top finish for the women. 

 
MEET THE COUGARS

• The women's team returns 13 runners while the men's team has eight returners from the 2022 squad. 
• Twenty student-athletes will be wearing Cougar Blue this season (11 women, nine men). 
• In their final races of 2022, the men's squad finished ninth while the women's team took 14th place at the NCAA West Regional hosted by Montana State Billings. 
• In the CCAA Cross Country Preseason Coaches Polls that were released earlier this season, the men were selected to finish third while the women were picked to finish fifth.

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his fifth season at the helm of the men's and women's cross country programs after taking over in the summer of 2018.
• Olson came to CSUSM after spending three seasons as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the Academy of Art University where his teams earned 50-plus All-American honors.
• Olson served as the head cross country coach the previous three years at Academy of Art.
• In addition to the Academy of Art, Olson has also worked with the University of San Francisco and Pomona-Pitzer College.
• A graduate of Pomona College in 2009, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary's College (2012).