SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- If Saturday's season-opening competition for the Santa Clara cross country team is any indication, the Broncos have landed themselves a number of talented new runners for this year's team.

Three new women's runners finished among Santa Clara's top five scorers, while freshman Chris Mulvany led the men's squad at the USF Invitational at Golden Gate Park. The Bronco men registered a third-place finish behind team champion Arizona and runner-up Stanford. The women gathered fourth-place behind Stanford, Arizona and San Jose State.

"We talked with both teams about going out in this first race of the season and running a controlled tempo and keeping tight throughout the first half of the race," said head coach Tom Service. "I thought that, particularly for the first race, the kids really executed the plan. Both teams stayed back and stayed together then performed well down the stretch. I was really pleased with our performances today." In the men's race, Santa Clara finished with a team score of 92 points, 12 ahead of fourth-place San Francisco. Mulvany ran an 8k time of 25:56.6 to finish in 14th place overall, four places ahead of SCU's second runner Michael Delaurenti's 26:13.9. Chris Doerhoff finished in a time of 26:18.5 and John Paul Thyken posted a 26:28 finish. Christen Gumbs was SCU's number five runner with a31st-place finish in a time of 26:55.9.

Redshirt sophomore Shannon Bell, the team's top runner two seasons ago as a freshman, has recovered from an injury suffered last fall to finish 15th overall in a talented field of runners. The Spokane, Wash. native finished the 5k race in a time of 18:56.2.

Newcomers Noelle Lopez and Anna Wheatley finished 19th and 20th with times of 19:05.2 and 19:06.4, respectively. Sophomore Ann Thomas was 22nd with a 19:14.8 clocking, while freshman Whitney Porter was 28th in a time of 19:25.4. SCU's fifth runner was Jessica Philippi in 37th place with a time of 19:36.7. "It was really nice to have Shannon Bell back on the course leading our team after her one-year layoff," said Service. "Her performances can certainly have a positive impact on our team, particularly with such a young group."