CONCORD, Calif. – Santa Clara men's cross country finished fourth with the women coming in fifth at the West Coast Conference Championships on Friday.
Zach Litoff finished eighth overall with a time of 23:46.4 to pace the Bronco men and was named First Team All-WCC. Nicholas Russell (18th, 24:12.3), Ian Twyman (22nd, 24:21.2), Jorge Estrella (36th, 24:58.8), and Spencer Fischer (41st, 25:15.2) rounded out the scoring for Santa Clara with Kyle Johnson, Ishaan Singh, Henry Raymond, and Ian Kirk also racing. It was a personal best for Litoff and Russell.
"This was our men's best performance of the season, and arguably our best ever," Santa Clara head coach Felipe Montoro said. "The top-three teams are all top-20 nationally and we are inching closer to that level. Once again our top-three were outstanding, especially Zach. All Conference in the WCC means you are one of the best distance runners in the country. Jorge has been dealing with a challenging side stitch issue and was able to fight through it for the team today. I was also really proud of Spencer for his performance, he also has been dealing with a nagging issue and was able to score for us to day. I think we can be even better over 10k in two weeks at regionals."
BYU won the team title with 24 points while Santa Clara scored 113.
Conner Mantz of the Cougars was the top individual at 23:01.0.
Abbey Meck was the first Bronco on the women's side to finish and took 27th with a time of 21:49.9. Also scoring was JJ Escalera (30th, 22:02.9), Kinsey Hall (38th, 22:25.9), Hannah Covington (44th, 22:37.5), and Kaitlyn Twadell (47th, 22:45.8). Adelaide Vergnolle, Luciana Lenth, Hannah Aguirre, Irene Nagasaka, and Maiya Fujiwara also raced.
"I'm incredibly proud of our performance today," associate head coach Pete Cushman said. "This group continues to be tough and resilient. Hannah Covington and Kaitlyn Twadell showed up in a big way when we needed it. With Saint Mary's just three points back we really needed them to come through at 4 and 5."
BYU took the team title with a total of 21 points. Santa Clara scored 164.
Whittni Orton was the top individual finisher at 20:01.0.
NEXT UP
West Regional Championships will be November 12 in Sacramento.
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