SAN MARCOS, Calif. - CSU San Marcos swept the top three individual spots, then held off hard-charging Simon Fraser to win the Association of Independent Cross Country Conference Championship on Saturday.
 
The loaded field featured #2-ranked CSU San Marcos, #3 Simon Fraser, and #13 British Columbia.  Also competing were Soka University and Johnson & Wales, and one runner from Southwestern College.
 
Running on their home course at Cal State San Marcos, the Cougars' got big efforts from their top-three runners, but Simon Fraser nearly edged them by placing five runners between spots 4 and 10 in the field.  In the end, the national rankings held to form as CSUSM finished with 34 points, while Simon Fraser settled for second with 36.  British Columbia placed third with 62 points, Soka took fourth at 125, and Johnson & Wales rounded out the field with 140 points.
 
CSU San Marcos' reigning All-American senior Dallon Williams made it her mission to win this race, and she did so quite impressively.  Williams pulled away in the second half of the race, tying her own school record with a time of 16:55.
 
Thirty seconds later, fellow Cougar Caitlin Villarreal crossed the finish line, coming in at 17:25 to place second.  And junior Jessica Sandoval, who distanced herself from a large field of runners late in the race, placed third at 17:39.
 
But the race was far from over, as Simon Fraser's super-steady team crossed the finish line one after another.  Jessica Smith placed 4th at 17:48, Angela Shaw took 5th with a 17:50, Holly Stockall placed 8th at 18:04, Helen Crofts took 9th at 18:08, and Ali Hudson placed 10th at 18:09.
 
British Columbia had Maggie Woodward and Sabrina Reeve place in the top-10, finishing 6th and 7th with times of 17:57 and 18:02, respectively.

"It was a good performance this weekend from both of our teams," said UBC head coach Marek Jedrzejek who saw both his squads qualify for the the NAIA Cross Country Championships.  "Last season we had just two individuals at Nationals, so to get both teams qualified was a good improvement this season."
 
When CSU San Marcos' #4 runner Kelly Thompson and #5 runner Lindsey McKown crossed the finish line in 13th and 15th place, it was unclear who the team champion would be.  The Cougars' performance proved to be just enough to prevail.
 
CSU San Marcos Coach Steve Scott was named A.I.I. Coach of the Year, and the top-10 finishers were named to the All-Conference Team. CSUSM earns the conference's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships on November 21st in Vancouver, Washington.