SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara cross country will race against a large, competitive field as hosts of Saturday's Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, Calif. Four West Coast Conference schools and 29 programs are represented between the large fields for the men's and women's invitationals. The meet begins at 9 am with the men's 8K Invite.
The Broncos are looking to set their lineups for the WCC Championship Nov. 1, and will get a good idea of what that roster looks like based on the results of this weekend's competition. The Bronco Invite and conference championships are run on the same course with the same distances this season.
"Timing is so crucial in our sport, and we need to put the nine best who are timing their sharpness right now when it matters most," assistant coach Pete Cushman said. "This competitive opportunity is a great chance for some people to earn a spot to the big postseason meets."
Race Schedule — Saturday, Oct. 18 — Baylands Park — Sunnyvale, Calif.
Men's 8k Invitational – 9:00 a.m.
Women's 6k Invitational – 9:45 a.m.
Men's 8k Open — 10:30 a.m.
Women's 6k Open — 11:15 a.m.
The Field
The men's field consists of Oklahoma State — winners of three of the last five national championships — as well as a number of USTFCCCA regionally ranked teams. Teams ranked from the West region include Stanford (4 regional, 7 national), UCSB (10), Cal (11), Cal Poly (13) and Santa Clara (14) while teams ranked in the Mountain region include Utah State (12), Utah Valley (14) and Idaho State (15). It also features Chico State, currently ranked 3rd in Division II.
On the women's side, Oklahoma State enters the meet ranked 18th in the country and Stanford — who will send a 'B' team to the Bronco Invite — is ranked 6th in the country. Ranked teams from the West region include Stanford (2), UC Davis (8), Cal Poly (10) and Cal (11) while ranked teams from the Mountain region include Utah State (10) and Nevada (13). Chico State currently holds the No. 5 national ranking in Division II and Cal Baptist is ranked 15th.
"We're really excited to welcome another great field to the Bronco Invitational, with representation from some of the best teams in the country across a few different regions as well as different NCAA and NAIA divisions," Cushman said.
"We'll have a relatively healthy roster on the line, and with the field as competitive as it is, it's going to be a great chance to get after it," added Cushman. "We'll get a good opportunity to measure ourselves against some top-15 region teams, but also a chance to measure ourselves up against some WCC competition. We haven't been head-to-head with St. Mary's or San Diego yet this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how we match up."
Bronco Men's Lineup
8k Invitational: Joey Berriatua, Bryan Crook, Ryan Greenough, Adrian Hinojosa, Kurt Ruegg, Peter Stephens
8k Open: Matt Burke, Tony Ferrari, Andrew Melendez, Cooper Roach, Sean Roe, Noah Westfall, Leland Wong
Coach Cushman on the Men: "The Cal Poly men nipped us the last time we met at Baylands, and we're looking forward to seeing if we can close that gap. Kurt Ruegg is training at a very high level right now, and this field is going to give him a chance to again step up and go head-to-head with some great regional and national competition. Certainly Bryan Crook, Joey Berriatua, Adrian Hinojosa, and Ryan Greenough will be right there with him. Our strength for our men is the tight spread between one and five."
Bronco Women's Lineup
6k Invitational: Audrey Hiatt, Kaitlyn Kuehn, Allison Maio, Grayson Murphy, Amia Nash, Kelly Ryan, Hannah Wood
6k Open: Christine Cremer, Camille Dyer, Karen Mac, Allison Martinez, Emily Robinson, Marisa Rudolph, Elsa Valenzuela, Kate Yanish
Coach Cushman on the Women: "The focus for the women will mostly center around executing a plan of being disciplined to our level of fitness, but relentless when the race gets the hardest. San Diego and St. Mary's have been racing well this fall, and this will be a chance to see how we can compete before WCCs.
"The women have turned a corner in training the last few weeks, and I think we learned some valuable racing lessons in Montana two weeks ago. We set the schedule up as we did as a point to learn about racing, and they've been responding well to that, and we're excited to see it develop this weekend."
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