SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Santa Clara cross country had 25 runners set college personal best marks Saturday as part of the 2015 Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park. All 11 Broncos between the men's and women's invitational races bested their prior PR, and each team featured a runner with the second-fastest time in program history.
Santa Clara had 32 runners compete overall, including five unattached Broncos, as they rewrote personal bests and the cross country record books.
"I was so proud of our team today. They really put forth strong efforts and were rewarded with our best races of the year," head coach Felipe Montoro said. "The conditions and fast nature of the course, and the fact we have run challenging courses all year until today, resulted in many, many personal bests and updated all-time lists.
"We had so much support from the campus community, alumni, parents and the entire athletic department. It was really special for our athletes," Montoro said. "I want to sincerely thank everyone who helped us put on the meet, attended the meet and showed our team such tremendous support."
Men's 8k Invitational (Individual results vs. entire field, PR = College PR)
6. Bryan Crook – 24:06.5 (PR)
19. Joey Berriatua – 24:25 (PR)
32. Ryan Greenough – 24:33.8 (PR)
68. Evan Misuraca – 25:11.3 (PR)
70. Aaron Brumbaugh 25:15.2 (PR)
106. Andrew Melendez – 25:41.5 (PR)
Crook ran the second-fastest 8k time in school history for a top 10 finish. The Broncos took 5th place of 13 Division I teams as all six runners set personal best marks.
Coach Montoro: "Our focus is always on competing, not times, and that is what I thought the teams did best today — compete really hard. I was really impressed with our top three guys; they were aggressive from the start, but composed, and all three closed well."
Women's 6k Invitational
13. Grayson Murphy – 20:46.4 (PR)
15. Mary Kriege – 20:50.7 (PR)
53. Heather LaPlante – 21:40.1 (PR)
134. Bevin McCullough – 22:43.7 (PR)
136. Camille Dyer 22:47.7 (PR)
Murphy and Kriege become the second and third Broncos in program history to break the 21-minute mark. The women as a team finished in 10th place of 18 Division I teams.
Coach Montoro: "While our top two women ran very, very well today, I think they could have been more aggressive early. "Both are still gaining confidence; hopefully today gave them what they need heading into the postseason to believe they can run with the best women in the conference.
"Heather LaPlante continues to recover from an early season setback and looked much closer to herself today. The next two weeks will be very beneficial for her to continue building fitness and confidence."
Men's 8k Open
11. Austin Blankenship – 25:06.4 (PR)
22. Noah Westfall – 25:28 (PR)
33. Jack Prazich – 25:40.8 (PR)
37. Matt Burke – 25:44.6 (PR)
42. Wilder Boyden – 25:52.7 (PR)
44. Will Burschinger – 25:54.3 (PR)
108. John O'Hagan – 26:56.7 (PR)
123. Ross Corey – 27:09.5 (Unattached)
137. Jean-Baptiste Tooley – 27:29.5 (Unattached)
169. Carson Bode 28:09.2 – (Unattached)
The Broncos took second place of four Division I teams, including West Coast Conference programs in LMU and San Diego. Fresh off a team-best race at last week's San Francisco State Invitational, Blankenship led the Broncos in the Open race with the fastest time of his young career. Burke shattered his prior personal best mark by 1:17.7.
Coach Montoro: "Austin Blankenship really stepped up again. Another guy I was just so proud of was Matt Burke. He works extremely hard and was rewarded with a tremendous race. I am so happy for him."
Women's 6k Open
11. Elsa Valenzuela – 22:29.7 (PR)
12. Kaitlyn Kuehn – 22:30.3
29. Allison Maio – 23:13.8
35. Allison Martinez – 23:21.4 (PR)
46. Karen Mac – 23:36.6 (PR)
61. Marisa Rudolph – 24:05.5 (PR)
73. Anika Renken – 24:23.4 (PR)
86. Greer Chrisman – 24:48.3 (PR)
116. Julia Green – 25:40 (PR)
15. Julia Wood – 22:38.9 (Unattached)
31. Grace Ling – 23:14.1 (Unattached)
Valenzuela and Kuehn finished less than a second apart, and the Broncos had all five of their scoring runners in the Top 50 overall. They edged the only other Division I team in the race, San Diego, by posting 25 points to the Toreros' 30.
Coach Montoro: "In the Open section, Kaitlyn and Elsa really ran well and had their best executed races ever."
UP NEXT
The Broncos compete at the Banana Slug Invitational next Saturday, Oct. 24, before a trip to Spokane, Wash. for the WCC Championships Oct. 31.
"We have some things to work on before conference in two weeks to reach our full potential, but overall we were good," Montoro said.
GO BRONCOS!
