Sept. 11, 2004

FRESNO, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's and women's cross country teams returned to action today at the Fresno State Invitational, held at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif. The Bronco men placed fifth out of seven teams, while the Bronco women placed sixth out of ten teams.

Both the defending men's and women's defending Big West Champions claimed team victories as UC Santa Barbara won the women's 5,000-meters and Cal Poly won the men's 8,000-meter race.

On the men's side, six Broncos placed in the top 40. Michael Delaurenti was the top finisher for Santa Clara, as was 24th overall in an 8,000-meter time of 26:41. Chris Doerhoff finished in 29th in a time of 27:19, while freshman Christen Gumbs was 30th in a time of 27:26. Fellow freshman Andrew Blumel ran a time of 27:31 to finish 32nd overall.

Four SCU women finished in the top 40 of the meet, as Jessica Baldwin-Philippi was the top Bronco finisher for the second straight meet, as she placed 25th with a time of 18:50. Freshman Ann Thomas finished 35th in a time of 19:17, while Katie Hansen was one spot back in 36th in a time of 19:19. Freshman Adriane Puetz finished in 38th place, in a 5,000-meter time of 19:26.

Santa Clara will be back in action next weekend when both squads travel to the Stanford Invitational at Stanford Golf Course. The first race is set to begin at 9:00 a.m.