SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Santa Clara cross country had balanced production from its veteran and freshmen runners as host of Saturday's Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park. Newcomer Jack Davidson took 35th place in the men's 8k Invitational race to and senior Hannah Wood took 68th place in the women's 6k Invitational to lead their respective teams.
Men's 8k Invitational
Bronco Scorers (Points adjusted for unattached/non-Division I runners): 27. Jack Davidson (24:36.1) 33. Xander Olivero (24:39.6) 36. Ryan Greenough (24:42.4) 49. Noah Westfall (24:57.5) 64. Fernando Gonzalez (25:12.5)
Davidson and Xander Olivero each bested the program's freshman 8k record, previously held by Ben Demaree '14. Ryan Greenough battled through illness to finish within seconds of Olivero. Junior Noah Westfall and freshman Fernando Gonzalez rounded out the Bronco scoring — Ben Davidson and Aaron Brumbaugh finished second behind Gonzalez.
As a team, the Broncos finished in 8th place of 18 Division I schools.
"Our men ran their best race of the year," Montoro said. "If we can get one of our 5-9 runners to close the gap on Noah, we will be where we need to be at the conference championships in two weeks.
"How well our freshmen competed was really exciting, but it was Ryan Greenough who really performed well today. I'm looking forward to a healthy Ryan at conference."
Women's 6k Invitational
Women's Scorers: 68. Hannah Wood (21:59.6) 83. Julia Wood (22:28.6) 86. Allison Martinez (22:33.8) 95. Marisa Sanchez (22:48.9) 101. Noelani Obermeyer (22:56.6)
Hannah Wood topped the Broncos in a race for the first time this season, and roughly 30 seconds later, Julia Wood was the second Bronco to cross the finish line. Freshmen Marisa Sanchez and Noelani Obermeyer also
"Hannah Wood and Allison Martinez continued their steady improvement curves this season and both ran great races today," Montoro said. "I thought we handled missing Heather LaPlante really well. Hopefully we can get her healthy and on the line with her teammates at conference.
"We haven't yet had five women all click at the same time in a race this season. If we do, we can surprise some teams at WCCs. That will be our focus going forward."
VIDEO | @ScuXc's 2016 Bronco Invitational, including interviews with Hannah Wood and Jack Davidson #StampedeTogether https://t.co/gPKhC1ESPf pic.twitter.com/sv7Sznvt8a
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) October 19, 2016
Open Races
Jeffrey Stalun ran a 26:33.4 in the men's 8k Open and Emma Eikelberner finished in 30th place with a 6k Open time of 23:16.8.
Up Next
The Broncos head to San Diego for the West Coast Conference Championships on Friday, Oct. 28.
"We are grateful to our alumni, athletic training room staff, parents and many volunteers who helped make the meet a success," Montoro said.
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