SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Central California for the CCAA Championships on Friday, Oct. 25. The Cougars will race at Woodward Park, located in Fresno, California. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The women's squad placed 19th at the Highlander Invitational last Saturday while the men did not post a team score. 
• Elise Ortiz was CSUSM's top female runner, placing 106th with a time of 23:10.1.
• Aidan O'Toole was CSUSM's top male runner after taking 60th place with a time of 25:32.3. 

CCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• This marks the first time CSUSM has run the Woodward Park course. 
• The women's race field will feature 11 of the 12 CCAA schools while the men's race will be comprised of nine conference schools.
• After Stanislaus State's women snagged back-to-back CCAA Championships in 2021 and 2022, Chico State pulled off an upset in 2023 with 45 points and defeated the Warriors by 17 points. 
• Sonoma State's Gianna Bomarrito was the individual winner with a time of 20:28.3 on the Quarry Lakes Regional Park course in Fremont. 
• Chico State's men extended its conference title streak to 21 last season with the Wildcats taking 1-2-3-4. Chico State junior Dylan White was the CCAA Individual Champion. 
• In 2023, CSUSM took 5th place with Renton McGregor snagging All-CCAA honors with a 15th-place finish in a time of 25:27.4. 
• The women's team captured fourth place in 2023 with Carrly Schuerger being the first Cougar to cross the line, taking 16th place out of 91 runners with a time of 22:00.9.
• Saturday's forecast in Fresno is mostly cloudy skies with high of 80 for the day. 

MEET THE COUGARS

• The women's team returns 13 runners while the men's team has 11 returners from the 2023 squad. 
• Twenty new student-athletes will be wearing Cougar Blue this season (15 women, five men). 
• In their final races of 2023, the men's squad finished 11th while the women's team took 13th place at the NCAA West Regional hosted by Western Oregon. 
• In the CCAA Cross Country Preseason Coaches Polls that were released last week, both the men and women were picked to finish fourth.
• In the preseason edition of the 2024 NCAA Division II West Regional Rankings, as released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the men were ranked 10th. 

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his seventh 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).