The Arizona men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Pre-NCAA Invitational, where the women finished in 19th in the 6,000-kilometer event, while the men placed 34th out of 40 in the 8k.

The women’s squad was paced by juniors Irine Lagat (40th place, 21:06) and Marissa Urban (50th, 21:17).

“”The women ran better than the men,”” said UA cross country coach James Li. “”The women continued to make good progress. I thought that Irine, Marissa and Angelina (Cabrera) all ran great.””

Freshman Maggie Callahan (107th, 21:54), senior Cabrera (134th, 22:08) and sophomore Shelly Splittberger (154th, 22:24) also scored for Arizona.

Princeton won the event as ASU took second.

The men did not fare as well.

“”(The men) were just too young and they were not ready to compete at that level,”” Li said. “”We didn’t do terrible, but I think that we can do better.””

For the third race in a row, freshman Victor Zazueta led the Wildcats, placing 158th in 25:06. Sophomore Dylan Fitzpatrick finished 185th in 25:53 after recovering from an illness.

“”I ran alright, I guess,”” Fitzpatrick said. “”We only beat a couple of teams, and that’s not good at all. We have a lot of improvement to do if we want to do well in the (Pacific 10 Conference).

“”We’re young, and that’s an excuse I guess,”” he added. “”But we need to do better.””

Junior Lou Maturo (220th, 25:56), freshman Reed Blochberger (222nd, 25:58) and Spencer Carter (227th, 26:11) rounded out the scoring for the Wildcats.

Li said this event could be beneficial to his team at the Pac-10 Championships in two weeks.

“”Every (Pac-10) team is so strong, I can’t remember being it like this before,”” he said. “”But this is going to be very helpful.””