SUNNYVALE, Calif. — One of the most accomplished cross country runners in Santa Clara history added to his résumé on Saturday morning. Joey Berriatua ran a 23:50.5 in the men's 8-kilometer invitational race to set the SCU school record as part of the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park.
The redshirt senior's mark is two seconds faster than Kurt Ruegg's previous school record of 23:52.5 from the 2014 West Coast Conference Championships. That year's conference meet was also held at Baylands Park.
As a team, Santa Clara took fourth place among 17 Division I programs for its best finish at the event since 2009. In addition to Berriatua's eighth-place finish, Jack Davidson (10th place – 23:52.9) made the top 10 for the fourth time in four meets this season. Will Burschinger (39th – 24:38.2), Zach Litoff (47th – 24:43.7) and Ben Davidson (53rd – 24:49.6) also scored for the Broncos.
SCU bested four USTFCCCA regionally ranked sides: Lamar (12 - South Central), Loyola Marymount (14 - West), Montana State (12 - Mountain) and New Mexico State (13 - Mountain).
Portland (67 points) placed two runners in the top five to narrowly win the team battle over UCLA (69 points). Utah Valley went one-two individually with Tyson Lambert (23:39.7) and Anthony Ocegueda (23:41.5) en route to a third-place team finish.
Freshmen Ellie Kopf (87th – 22:14.7) and Janie Nabholz (97th – 22:25.3) led the way for Santa Clara's women in the 6-kilometer invitational race. Marisa Sanchez (102nd – 22:28.8), Allison Martinez (106th – 22:29.9) and Bevin McCullough (111th – 22:36.0) rounded out the team's scoring five for a spread of less than 11 seconds among the second through fifth SCU runners.
Santa Clara topped a pair of WCC and Bay Area foes in Pacific and Saint Mary's; the team also outraced Cal State Bakersfield, Fresno State and Hawai'i.
San José State (60 points) edged Montana State (67) in a close bout for first place. The Spartans' Jenny Sandoval ran a 20:18.3 to win the meet by 15 seconds.
SCU OPEN RACE SCORERS
Men's 8k: Connor Lehl (31st – 26:06.1), Andrew Melendez (41st – 26:24.0), Luke Davies (53rd – 26:36.2), John O'Hagan (68th – 26:53.5), Jean Baptiste-Tooley (96th – 27:41.9)
Women's 6k: Noelani Obermeyer (7th – 22:58.4), Emma McCurry (11th – 23:11.2), Kalen Abe (14th – 23:27.5), Julia Green (39th – 24:43.6), Carolina Avelar (46th – 25:05.4)
NEXT UP
Santa Clara stays in the Bay Area for the WCC Championships on Friday, Oct. 27 at the Metropolitan Golf Links in Oakland, California.
NOTES
• James Konugres, Xander Olivero (men's invitational), Emma Eikelberner, Jamie Ferris (women's invitational), Brendan Jones, Ross Corey (men's open) and Lacey Yahnke (women's open) also raced for the Broncos.
• Berriatua's previous top 8k mark as a Bronco was 24:25.0 at the 2015 Bronco Invitational. His new personal best mark is 34.5 seconds faster.
• 568 runners competed between all four events.
MEDIA
QUOTABLE
XC INTERVIEW | Joey Berriatua on setting the 8K school record at this morning's #SCUBroncos Invitational! #StampedeTogether #SCUGrandReunion pic.twitter.com/W2MIcX5rVe
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) October 15, 2017
XC INTERVIEW | Head coach Felipe Montoro shares his thoughts on today's #SCUBroncos Invitational! #StampedeTogether #SCUGrandReunion pic.twitter.com/wD4pvpOm4N
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) October 14, 2017
XC VIDEO | Ellie Kopf Talks 2017 Santa Clara Bronco Invitational #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos FULL CLIP ▶️ https://t.co/DNbBgjawAU pic.twitter.com/8zLlyH9YAD
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) October 17, 2017
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