SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara cross country returns to Golden Gate Park's Hellman Hollow Meadow Thursday morning for its second race of the 2016 season at the Speedway Duals. The Broncos opened the 2016 campaign two weeks ago at the same venue as part of the USF Invitational.
For the second straight year, the Broncos will compete in a head-to-head race with West Coast Conference rival Saint Mary's. The men run first in a 7250m event at 10:30 a.m., followed by the women in a 5800m event at 11:15 a.m. Host San Francisco State and Sacramento State will also compete.
"We are really looking forward to the meet," head coach Felipe Montoro said. "I like how the somewhat off distance and small fields put more of an emphasis on competing and less focus on times."
The Broncos have one race and their preseason training camp under the belt, the latter of which took place Sept. 8-10 near Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands. At the season-opening USF Invite, Ryan Greenough, Andrew Melendez and Wilder Boyden led the Bronco men while Julia Wood, Heather LaPlante and Bevin McCullough led the Bronco women.
Saint Mary's finished in fifth place in both the men's and women's races at USF, one spot above the Broncos on both sides. The Gael men are ranked 14th in Monday's USTFCCCA West Region Rankings. Santa Clara and Saint Mary's split the event last season; the Broncos won the women's race (24-32) while the Gaels won a close men's race (26-29).
"We are closely matched on both sides with Saint Mary's just like last year," Montoro said. "Their women ran well at USF, so this meet will provide a valuable gauge of our progress and provide a great deal of information on where we need to go. SF state is a great host and we are also excited about the addition of Sac State to the meet."
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