Running in Portland for the first time, Santa Clara's women finished sixth and the men seventh at the West Coast Conference Championships Saturday morning in Fernhill Park. Portland took back the men's title after BYU snapped its streak of 32 straight last year by outscoring Portland 32 to 33. USF won its fourth straight women's title.
Santa Clara's women scored 187 points to finish sixth. Santa Clara's top finisher was Mary Kreige in 25th place at 21:25, a few seconds off her personal best. Kate Yanish was second for SCU at 22:16, a personal best by 11 seconds. Emily Robinson finished 42nd at 22:17, a personal best by 39 seconds. Mary Reyonolds was fourth for the Broncos in 49th place at 22:36. Hayley Ney rounded out the Bronco scoring in 53rd place at 22:49, just a few seconds off her personal best.
Also competing for the Bronco women were Allie Sibole (57th, 22:59), Kayla Germany (58th, 23:00), Kelly Ryan (63rd, 23:17) and Lauren Germany (68th, 23:37).
"We were very happy with how the women competed," said Bronco head coach Felipe Montoro. "This is what we expected to finish and they were a solid sixth. Mary ran great. I was also pleased with the races of Kate Yanish, a freshman finishing second for us and Emily Robinson, a sophomore finishing third."
The men were seventh, scoring 189 points. The men ran without All-WCC finisher Ben Demaree who has been injured most of this season after finishing 13th last season.
Leading the men was freshman-redshirt Bryan Crook, who finished 32nd in 25:07, a personal best. Kevin Oliver was 36th at 25:17. Luca Signore was third for the Broncos in 41st place at 25:33. Ezana Tesfu was fourth for SCU at 26:15 in fourth place and Moises Venegas rounded out the scoring in 51st place at 26:16.
Also competing for the Broncos were Matt Mosier (53rd, 26:18), Sam Holeman (58th, 26:33), Adam Perez (62nd, 26:44) and Adrian Hinojosa (69th, 27:17).
"Seventh was a very disappointing finish for the men," said Montoro. "We have had issues with injuries all season, including being without our All-WCC runner Ben Demaree. We will get back to training hard and get ready for next season."
