click here to see video from today by Nicole Giove '12
On a hot day at the Stanford Golf Course, the Santa Clara men's and women's cross country teams competed well at the Stanford Invitational with the Bronco men's team picking up its best finish in the history of the meet, placing 8th of 28 teams competing. The women's team placed 21st of 29 teams. Host Stanford took home both the men's and women's titles.
Both the Bronco men's and women's teams are back in action next week. The men will be racing at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday in South Bend, Ind. and the women will be competing at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Ore.
"While I am pleased with our men's race, there are a lot of areas in which we can still improve" said Bronco head coach Felipe Montoro. "We really need to work on keeping our scoring pack together, and close the gap from our 4th and 5th scorers to our 3rd, something we are more than capable of doing. I was really pleased with our top 3 runners today, they competed well in a very competitive and crowded environment."
The men were led by senior Robbie Reid and sophomore Ben Demaree. Both runners were under Reid's previous school record of 24:30, crossing the finish line together in 24:28 for the 8k distance in 16th and 17th place, respectively. Senior Austin Jones set a personal record as well finishing in 43rd place just dipping under the 25:00 barrier for the first time in his career (24:59).
Senior veteran Chris Sampson (25:49, 77th) and red shirt freshman Peter Stephens (25:50, 79th) were the final scorers for the Broncos. Sophomores Luca Signore (25:53, 81st) and Ezana Tesfu (25:59, 86th) rounded out the top 7. Also competing were: senior Richard Zhu (26:09), junior Marcos Hinojosa (26:11) and freshman Sean Roe (26:12).
The women were led by senior Erin McCarthy (89th 22:40) and freshman Mary Kriege (90th 22:40) in the 6k race. It was McCarthy's first competition since running at the NCAA regional meet last November having missed the track season due to injury.
"I thought Erin and Mary raced well. Erin will improve a lot as the season progresses and today was a great start to her final season," added Montoro. "Mary lost a shoe at the beginning of the race and had to stop and put it on. She really moved up fast, but the big early move caught up to her at the finish. We learned today that Mary is a very tough competitor and that will serve her well down the line. Our women are progressing well, one week at a time. I am looking forward to seeing what they can do on a fast course in Oregon next week," said Montoro.
Also running for the women were junior Hayley Ney (133rd, 23:16), senior Nicole Giove (135th, 23:17), junior Mary Reynolds (154th, 23:34), freshman Kelly Ryan (160th, 23:42), junior Carey Parker (24:05), freshman Audrey Hiatt (24:31) and sophomore Kayla Germany (24:42).
