Aug. 31, 2008
Women's Results | Men's Results
The Santa Clara cross country teams opened the 2008 season at Golden Gate Park on Sat., Aug. 30 with the women finishing third and the men fourth at the USF Invitational in San Francisco. The women finished with 81 points, one point behind host-USF. Stanford, the defending NCAA Champions, finished fourth with 100 points. The Bronco men finished the 8K race with 117 points. Stanford's men and California's women won the USF Invitational.
"We are pleased with a first effort still realizing this is Aug. 30 and very early in the season. The men's team was led by Robbie Reid, who ran a PR and finished 10th in a tough race. Stephen Koch ran a nice comeback race, taking 15th place, after spending last season injured," said Santa Clara head coach Tom Service. "The women were led by Stephanie Wilson's sixth place finish. Stephanie was last on the team last year at this race and this year she is the leader - that is an incredible improvement. Noelle Lopez also had a nice comeback race after being injured all last season, finishing 13th."
On the Bronco men's side Reid was Santa Clara's high-finisher, running a 25:52.30 8K personal best to finish 10th. Reid was followed by Stephen Koch and his 15th-place finish at 26:06.40. Finishing third for the Broncos was Josh Hernandez, a junior college transfer, who finished 23rd overall at 26:18.90. Rounding out the top five were Richard Zhu, who finished 34th overall at 26:42.40; and Austin Jones crossed the finish line on Zhu's heels to finish 35th overall at 26:43.20.
On the women's side, Wilson's sixth-place finish highlighted the women's effort in the 5K race. Wilson ran an 18:18.10. Lopez crossed the line at 18:51.80 to finish second for the Broncos' and 13th overall. Anne Murphy-Hagan and Jennifer Clarke were 17th and 18th respectively, with Hagan running an 18:55.20 and Clarke finishing at 18:57.40. Rounding out the top five for the Broncos, Whitney Porter was 25th overall at 19:12.10.
Next up on the schedule, the men's team will run at the West Coast Preview on Fri., Sept. 12 at Pier Park in Portland, Ore. And the women will compete on Sat., Sept. 13 at the Hornet Jamboree at Granite Regional Park in Sacramento, Calif.
