BUTTE, Calif. – Shasta College sophomore Grace Southern won the women's race for the Butte Invitational 5K on Thursday while the Knights' Marcus Francescut turned in a sixth-place finish in the men's 4-mile race.

Southern, who was fifth at the NorCal Preview earlier this season, blew past the competition at the Butte Invite. She completed the 5K run in 20 minutes, 24.8 seconds, nearly 41 seconds better than the second-place finisher. Her average mile was 6:34.2 for the 3.1-mile race, better than her 3-mile average time of 6:52.5 in September.

"Grace has bought into the training and plan 100 percent and has been able to train at a high level everyday," said Shasta College coach Anthony Williams. "She has been bringing the energy and high effort during our short and long tempo runs, which has in turn helped her for race day."

Francescut ran the 4-mile course in 23:30.2 for an average mile of 5:52.6. He saw his overall course time improve from the NorCal Preview by 3 minutes and his average mile time by 45 seconds. 

"Marcus has been getting more consistent with hitting the times and managing the workouts like we need him to," Williams said. "Because of this he can see his progress throughout the training and it has boosted his confidence for race day."

The Butte Invite mostly included junior college competitors but also had a couple of runners from four-year programs such as Simpson University and University of the Pacific.

Shasta's next meet is on Saturday at the College of the Siskiyous Invitational.

Photo Credit: Mike Daly