Sept. 16, 2006

SEATTLE, Wash. --The Santa Clara men's and women's cross country teams got to put on a show for their friends and family in Seattle, Wash. Saturday morning at the Sundodger Invitational. The men's team was led by juniors Chris Gumbs and Mike Delaurenti who placed 41st and 48th. On the women's side, it was senior Shannon Bell leading the way for the Broncos with a 40th place finish, with freshman Anne Murphy-Hagan just behind her in 44th. As a team the Broncos finished 8th out of 14 women's teams, and 10th out of 12 men's teams.

Saturday's race was only the second time the Broncos had participated in the Sundodger Invitational, but in just one year, the Broncos have improved by leaps and bounds. Chris Gumbs finished Saturday almost a minute and a half faster than his Sundodger result in 2005, while Mike Delaurenti nearly matched his time from a year ago. The women showed significant improvement as well, with Shannon Bell finishing over a minute faster than her 2005 performance and teammate Lauren Swigart finishing just over two minutes faster than in 2005.

As expected, freshman Gillian Fitch made her debut for the Santa Clara and was the third Bronco to cross the finish line. And for the second straight event, freshman Anne Murphy-Hagan finished right behind Shannon Bell. And those results, coupled with a strong performance by Lauren Swigart put the Broncos only 15 points behind WCC Conference rivals Portland.

The women's race was won by the University of Michigan, and on the men's side, Chico State upset the University of Washington, who were going for their fifth straight Sundodger victory.

The Santa Clara men's and women's cross country teams will return to the race course in next week for the Stanford Invitational on Saturday, September 23rd from the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, Calif.

Results

Quotes

Head coach Tom Service on women's race: "I was very impressed with the way the women ran. We had four that ran extremely well, and unfortunately there was a little bit of a gap between our 4th and 5th finishers, but we ended up only 15 points behind Portland, which was one of our objectives."

Service, on women's performances: "Just an outstanding job by Shannon Bell, who is our top runner, and another great effort by Anne Murphy-Hagan. Gillian Fitch got through her first race today, and Lauren Swigart had a great one as well."

Service, on men's performances: "Chris Gumbs continues to run extremely well, and he did so today against some of the top runners in the west region. Chris and Mike (Delaurenti) stayed with them early on, and our top three (Gumbs, Delaurenti, A.J. Blumel) all broke 26 minutes which was fantastic."

Service, on team results: "Although we didn't really finish well team-wise, our objectives for the race were met and a lot of positive things were achieved. It's going to be a real dogfight for the WCC crown, which will bode really well for us."

Service, on team running in Washington: "We sort of call it our northwest homecoming. It was really nice to have the support of all the family and friends that came out. We also had several Bronco alumni in attendance rooting us on so it was great."