Oct. 28, 2000
BELMONT, Calif. - Santa Clara University men's cross country coach John Maloney was named West Coast Conference men's cross country coach of the year after leading his Bronco squad to a second-place finish in the league championships held at Crystal Springs Course today.
The SCU men's squad placed all five of its runners in the top 16 in the individual standings to score 52 points, 27 points behind first-place Portland's 25. The margin of victory for the Pilots was the smallest since 1993 for Portland, while SCU's 52-point outing was its best in the conference meet since a 48-point performance in 1986. The Broncos also knocked a combined total of 5:36 off last year's time despite rainy and cold conditions.
Santa Clara placed two men in the top five individually. Senior Charlie Brenneman (Roseville, Calif.) placed fourth with a time of 25:30, while junior Michael Helms (Poway, Calif.) was right behind with a fifth-place time of 25:31. Both runners posted personal best times on the Crystal Springs Course, which also hosts the annual Bronco Invitational.
"I am really proud of our guys," said Maloney. "We ran well as a team and that's what it takes to do well at the conference meet. Portland has an outstanding team year-in and year-out. And, for us to have two runners that can run with them is a great tribute to our guys. We now need to get this meet behind us and start concentrating on the NCAA regionals in two weeks. I think we are in great shape to run well after two-straight meets on this very difficult Crystal Springs course - especially considering the rainy conditions we ran in today."
The Santa Clara women finished fourth in the team standings with 111 points, just six points behind third-place Pepperdine. Sophomore Jenny Smokey (Minden, Nev.) finished in 10th-place with a 5k time of 19:24. Smokey was named to the all-WCC squad after finishing in the top 10 in the meet.
Three Bronco women finished in the top-20 in the meet individually. Annie Gastelum (Minden, Nev.) and Erin Skourtes finished 19th and 20th, respectively.
"Our top runners performed pretty well," said Bronco head women's coach Sandy Sanchez. "We didn't do as well at the four and five positions as I had hoped. We have a rather young squad and this meet was a great experience for us in helping keep our program progressing upward. We were just a few points behind third and I am confident we will perform much better at the regionals in Fresno."
Both teams have two weeks off prior to the Nov. 11th NCAA West Regional championships held in Fresno, Calif.
2000 MEN'S RESULTS 1 Portland 25, 2 Santa Clara 52, 3 San Diego 107, 4 Saint Mary's 129, 5 Gonzaga 138, 6 Pepperdine 142, 7 Loyola Marymount 169, 8 San Francisco 198
2000 WOMEN'S RESULTS 1 Portland 23, 2 Gonzaga 40, 3 Pepperdine 105 4 Santa Clara 111, 5 Saint Mary's 144, 5 San Francisco 144, 7 San Diego 180, 8 Loyola Marymount 190
2000 MEN'S ALL-WCC 1 Ryan Craig, POR 25:11, 2 Antonio Lopez, USD 25:21, 3 Eric Kiauka, POR 25:26, 4 Charlie Brenneman, SCU 25:30, 5 Michael Helms, SCU 25:31, 6 Jeff Driscoll, POR 25:42, 7 Shawn Downey, POR 25:50, 8 Rick White, POR 25:54, 9 Kevin Smith, POR 25:59, 10 Aaron Lindner, POR 26:11
2000 WOMEN'S ALL-WCC 1 Nicole Ricci, POR 18:02, 2 Alyson Barrett, POR 18:41, 3 Jessie Newton, POR 18:42, 4 Tana Caskey, GON 18:49, 5 Allegra Porter, SMC 19:01, 6 Sara Sundborg, POR 19:04, 7 Alanna Steinert, GON 19:14, 8 Emily Steinert, GON 19:16, 9 Paula Link, GON 19:19, 10 Jenny Smokey, SCU 19:24
