The Gators cruised victoriously Saturday morning into their first meet of the season taking home both men's and women's CSU Monterey Bay Invitational titles in Seaside, Ca.

SF State women's cross-country captain Tanya Ferreira, junior, lead 7 Gators of the top 11 finishers to a time of 18 minutes in the 4.06-mile race. Returning sophomore Karen Marchan finished thirteen seconds behind Ferreira.

"She had a good pace and they all ran in a pack," said SF State Head Cross Country Coach Tom Lyons.

The lady Gators finished ahead in points over Cal State Stanislaus, Sonoma State, Cal State East Bay, CSU Monterey Bay and Notre Dame de Namur.

"I was happy to see that we took seven of the top eleven spots in the race," said Lyons.

On the men's side, junior Max Fernandez came in 12 seconds behind the individual champion from CSU Stanislaus.

"Max was in the top 3 for the first 3 miles of the race and in the last hundred meters out-raced the third place finisher to put him ahead," said Lyons.

Men's captain Kyle Fujitsubo, junior, pulled ahead in the last mile-and-a-half to earn him a 4th place individual time of 22:36. Following him were freshmen Tyler Deniston and Brian Trejo, who finished 6th and 7th, respectively.

"(The freshmen were) fantastic and ran a smart patient race," said Lyons.

The Gators have their next meet at Mills College in Oakland on Sept. 19 for the Mills College Invitational title.

"Mills will be low key and nice for our younger top athletes," said Lyons.

Lyons' eyes however are set on the weekend after when he takes his top runners to the University of Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational. There the SF State will compete with teams from all over the country.

"This was a good start to the season and I am excited for the upcoming meets," said Lyons.