IRVINE – Tiffany Turner earned her second straight top-10 finish Saturday as she placed ninth at the Asics/UC Irvine Cross Country Invitational, held at the Anteater Recreation Center course. 

Turner, a senior from La Crescenta, toured the 5,000-meter layout in 18 minutes, 10.7 seconds. Her finish was the top Division II time in what was termed the “large school'' race. Two races for both the men and women took place Saturday morning on the UCI campus. 

“Tiffany is right on pace,'' said Bronco coach Troy Johnson of Turner, who opened the season 10th at Cal State Fullerton. “Her training has been sound. Both teams ran against the large schools that included some D-I's. When you line up against those from larger schools and do well, it shows that you can perform under any circumstances.'' 

Sophomore Amber Hebb (Alta Loma) placed 43rd at 19:04.9, while Elizabeth Soria (sophomore, Chino Hills) placed 55th (19:15.8). 

The Bronco women finished 9th with 243 points. The host Anteaters won the event with 51 points.
Sophomore Michael Najera (Los Angeles) was the top finisher for the men's team, as he placed 24th in the 8,000-meter race in 26:17.0. Junior Mariano Baez (Los Angeles) was 27th in 26:22.3. Ricardo Rodriguez (freshman, LaPuente) finished 59th in 27:25.4. 

“Our guys are building on consistency and they did a nice job,'' Johnson said. “They've attacked their training well. Both our teams need to work on our groupings, but we've got a solid group of determined people.'' 

The men finished eighth with 212 points. UCLA won the event with 29 points.