Kleinsasser, earns top finishes as Tigers start season with solid performance

REDLANDS, Calif. (Sept. 12, 2009) – Eric Kleinsasser, the 2008 SCIAC Runner of the Year, has done nothing but improve during the last year as he once again found himself ahead of the pack, leading the Tigers to a fourth place finish at the 2009 Redlands Invitational.

While Kleinsasser ran just ahead of Javier Madrid from Cal Baptist, a pair of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags were on his heels the entire course. In the end, however, he out-ran them, finishing in 19:03, a 5:07 mile pace, in the 6K.

Next in line for Oxy was freshman Mario Castillo who finished his first collegiate race in 19:57, followed by fellow freshman Charlie Sauter who finished third for the Tigers in 20:20.

With two of the top four runners sidelined with injury and illness, Oxy looks to improve on a strong opening performance in which eight Tigers made his debut. Appearing in black and orange for the first time  That group included Andrew Imthurn andAlexander Balgobin who both scored for the Tigers, as well as Evan Hillman, Avery Mainardi, Taylor Gillis and Lee Rosch.

CMS earned the top team time, while San Bernardino Valley College and Cal Baptist took the second and third spots ahead of Oxy. Host Redlands was just behind the Tigers. Complete results can be found here.

Occidental will be back on the course next weekend as they compete as a split-squad with the top seven finishers from today traveling to the Sundoger Invitational hosted by the University of Washington, while the rest of the team will test their speed at the UC Riverside Invitational. First stride will be at 7:30 a.m. in Southern