Sept. 12, 2007
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Greetings to Santa Clara Cross Country Alums and Friends,
Bronco Cross country is alive and well in 2007. On August 24 Coach Service and Coach Montoro greeted 35 Broncos at Rancho San Antonio for the annual Fall Time Trial. Included in that group was a very competitive group of veterans as well as 12 newcomers to the program. The results were impressive as most of the veterans topped their best marks of 2006. Senior Adriane Puetz led a strong showing of the Bronco Women running the fastest time ever over the 7 year history of the course. (13:22) 2.35 mi. In fact the Lady Broncos posted 5 of the top ten times ever recorded. Not to be bested by those outstanding performances, Senior Michael Delaurenti broke his own course record (15:00) 3.0 mi. over the challenging Rancho Course. He led the men to the top 4 performances in the past 4 years of the trial.
The coaches are extremely pleased with dedication and hard work exhibited by the team in the summer. The Broncos opened the 2007 campaign on Saturday, Sept.1 at the USF Inv. in Golden Gate Park. In a good early season matchup with top Bay Area teams both the Men and Women were victorious in their first race. It was a very exciting day for the Broncos as they defeated WCC rival, USF, Cal and San Jose State. Senior Adriane Puetz was the Women's Champion in a very controlled 17:58. Senior Michael Delaurenti picked up right where he left off last spring by easily winning the Men's race in 25:41. There were no victory celebrations as the team got down to the work necessary for those types of Championship performances at WCC and NCAA Regionals.
The Broncos will head to the coast after the USF meet for a week of great workouts, bonding, goal setting and fun. After a week at Running Camp (New Brighton State Beach), the Broncos travel to the Northwest to run in the Sundodger Inv. hosted by University of Washington. The blazing fast Lincoln Park 6k & 8k races are attended by some of the nation's top harriers. The Broncos find large competitive fields like Sundodger invaluable in preparing for the Championship part of the season in Oct. and Nov.
Classes begin Sept 17. (I thought we just had to run!) Following a bye on 9/22 the teams split as the Women travel to the Notre Dame Inv. and the Men head to Stanford. Both meets give the Broncos another taste of Championship competition. The Women look to improve on their 6th place finish from 2006. The Men get an early read on the West Region as several of those teams will be competing.
After another bye, Santa Clara hosts the Bronco Inv. at Baylands Park. The meet continues to grow in popularity. The course is very fast and several programs look to that race as a tune up for their Conference Finals. We have commitments from 14 Universities including Boise State, New Mexico State, Stanford, San Jose State, UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton, and WCC foes USF and St Marys. The day has traditionally been an Alumni event and this year should be bigger and better. (See below).
Part of the team will compete in the Shoreline Inv. on Oct. 20. The following week Crystal Springs will be the site of the 2007 WCC Championships. The Broncos would love to see parents, students and alumni lining the rugged Crystal Springs trails as we look to improve on 2006 finishes.
The last scheduled meet is the 2007 NCAA West Region Finals in Eugene, Oregon on Nov. 10. The Broncos send their best to compete with the Pac 10, Big West, WAC and WCC teams. The NCAA Finals will be held in Terra Haute, Indiana on 11/19. (You never know!)
Off The Track
Following the Jesuit ideal of educating the "whole student", Bronco Cross Country and Track team members take great pride in their academic and community service activities. Both teams have won several awards for GPA the past seasons and 2006-07 was no exception. Both teams earned a term and cumlative GPA well over 3.0. Graduating seniors were accepted into outstanding Graduate programs at SCU, Duke and Northwestern.
All team members are involved in many Service activities. Bronco runners have given countless hours to the following programs:
1.Tijuana Immersion ( Building houses for families in Mexico)
2.Hurricane Katrina Immersion ( Rebuilding New Orleans )
3.Casa de La Solidariad ( Volunteering in Hospitals )
4.ESL On Campus ( Tutor Facilities and Food Service employees )
5.Relay for Life ( Raise awareness and money for Cancer research )
6.Adopt A College ( Adopt 6th grade class in San Jose )
7.SCCAP - ( Volunteer in many activities in local area )
8.Fair trade Coalition ( Efforts to limit SCU coffee to Fair Trade )
9.Santa Clarans for Social Justice ( Protests US actions such as School of the Americas)
These Broncos represent Santa Clara University in so many positive ways. In the classroom, on the competitive course or track, or in the Community, Alumni and Parents can can take great pride in these students.
MEET THE BRONCOS
A.J. Blumel, senior
Men's co-captain A.J. Blumel came to SCU 4 years ago from the storied Mead High School cross country program in Spokane, Washington, where he ran for Coach Pat Tyson. AJ brought with him an unmatched work ethic and a high tolerance for the extreme discomfort and pain associated with successful distance runners. AJ has played a crucial role in the development of the program in so many ways. A leader both by example and vocally, AJ has shown the type of improvement and consistency over his first three years as a Bronco that every collegiate runner aspires to. As a freshman, AJ posted a personal best in the 8k of 26:29 and 15:51 in the 5k during track. Last season, after years of hard work and sacrifice, he lowered his personal bests to outstanding marks of 25:44 for 8k and 15:13 for the 5k. Those are outstanding marks for a young man that only broke 10 min for two miles once in high school.
After finishing in 17th place at last years WCC Championships in 26:34 at Crystal Springs as the Broncos 3rd man, AJ has his sights set on a top ten finish. Top 10 is a real possibility for AJ this fall, after logging 100 mile weeks all summer around the high altitude trails of Priest Lake, Idaho. AJ is fit, confident and ready to help lead the Broncos this fall.
A scholar athlete who carries a 3.71 GPA as a Political Science major, AJ plans to follow in his father Joe's footsteps, and attend Law School following his graduation from Santa Clara. With so many talented young men joining the team in 2007, the program is lucky to have someone like AJ to show them how it is done in Bronco Land.
GO BRONCOS!!
Adriane Puetz, senior
Adrie enters the 2007 season as the leader of the women's team. Adri prepped at Cleveland High School in Portland, Oregon. With modest pr's of 5:02 in the 1500 and 11:12 in the 3k, there was little indication of the runner she would become.
Able and willing to handle the type of training one needs to find success at the Division 1 level, Adrie had a break out track season last spring that saw her drop her 1500 pr down to 4:51, her 3k to 10:27 (number two all-time at SCU) and her 5k to 17:53 (number three all-time at SCU).
With the 2007 cross country season already underway, it is clear that she has not only carried that success over, but she has made even bigger improvements than last year. After putting in regular 80 mile weeks, Adrie unofficially opened her season with a course record at the time trial, where she ran 13:22 for 2.35 miles, 5:41/mile pace. With the whole season ahead of her, all-conference honors and a successful showing at the NCAA regional meet in Eugene, Oregon near her home town of Portland are in her future.
A true testament to what patience, dedication and self-confidence can accomplish, the Bronco women are lucky to have Adriane to look up to.
GO BRONCOS!!
Santa Clara University Cross Country Alumni Day Saturday,
October 13, 2007: Baylands Park, Sunnyvale
Santa Clara University Cross Country Alumni Day will be held in conjunction with the 2007 edition of the Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale. This years edition will be the most competitive ever, with teams from Stanford, UC Davis, Boise State, New Mexico State, Cal State Fullerton, Westmont, San Francisco State, Hawaii, San Diego State, Notre Dame De Namur, San Jose State, and WCC rivals Saint Mary's and USF all committed.
The Collegiate races begin with the men's 8k at 9:30AM and the women following at 10:15AM. We would love to have as many Alumni, friends and family in attendance as possible, to help support the Broncos. There are a number of events planned for the day that all are welcome to participate in.
A small donation to the program of $25.00 will gain you entry into a 5k fun run through the women's 5k course, a Bronco Distance T-shirt, as well as a post race Lunch and gathering. The fun run begins at 8:15AM. If you would like to skip the fun run but still cheer on the races, get the T-shirt and would like to stay for the lunch and get together, that is fine too!
Please email us with your response so we can make plans for lunch and T-shirts (size).
We hope to see you all there!
Tom, Felipe and the Men and Women of SCU XC. tservice@scu.edu mmontoro@scu.edu
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