Oct. 29, 2007

Megan Lewis ran to a first-place finish at the Big West Conference Cross Country Championships to take the individual title and help the 24th-ranked UCSB Gauchos win the team crown.

Lewis, a senior from Tracy, Calif., settled into the front of the pack early, but at the halfway point she started to push the pace and take over the race. She ended up finishing with a time of 21:16, 19 seconds ahead of teammate Bethany Nickless, who was second.

The Gauchos tallied 44 points to top the eight other teams in the meet. UC Riverside was second with 57 points and UC Irvine was a close third with 59 points.

Lewis will be in action Nov. 10 at the NCAA West Regional in Eugene, Ore.