Watch GoPro Footage from the Team's Training Camp in Santa Cruz

Santa Clara Cross Country 2014 Season Preview

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Less than three weeks since the first official practice Aug. 21, Santa Clara's cross country teams have their first meet and preseason training camp under their belts as the 2014 season begins. The Broncos put up good results at the season-opening USF Invitational Aug. 30 and recently returned from training camp Sept. 1-3 in nearby Santa Cruz, Calif.

"It's invigorating as a coach and as an athlete to have everyone back," fifth-year head coach Felipe Montoro said. "It can get old running as much as they run by themselves during the summer. It's just not the same as when you're back with the team."

"That's one thing about our sport, we've been back for a week and we're already racing," third-year assistant coach Pete Cushman added. "The runners have to put in a lot of work on their own during the summer. They put in that work and came back very fit."

Juniors Adrian Hinojosa and Bryan Crook are the two top returners for the men's team that figures to be a competitive group this season. Hinojosa ranks second and Crook ranks third in Santa Clara's all-time 5k list, and each posted their record time in spring 2014.

Montoro said junior Ryan Greenough has made a big jump in fitness, and will be one of the up-and-coming Broncos to watch. Sophomore Joey Berriatua is looking to build on a successful freshman campaign, in which he took fourth place at the WCC Preview Meet in the fall and set a school record by running a 1,500-meter time of 3:49.78 at the West Coast Last Chance Open in the spring.

"Joey had a great freshman track season," Montoro said. "With him, we'll be interested to see if he can translate that middle distance success to 10k cross country."

"Joey has a great athlete's mind; he thinks he can do everything," Cushman said. "His skill set right now has definitely been in the 1500 meters. He is going to run fearless. He's the kind of guy who even if he doesn't say it, he believes he can beat anybody."

The Broncos welcome newcomer Kurt Ruegg, a 2014 Harvard graduate and Yountville, Calif. native who will use his final year of NCAA eligibility at Santa Clara. Ruegg ran with the Crimson in last year's NCAA Championship 10k race.

"He fits right in with Adrian and Brian in terms of 5k time," Cushman said. "He has run at the national meet and has the best 10k time on the team, which is a very good indicator of cross country success.

"I think we're in a good place because we have four guys that all believe they can be our best guy. I wouldn't be surprised if we had a different top finisher in every race from that group of four."

For the Bronco women, senior Kelly Ryan returns with the fastest 5k and 10k marks on the team. Fellow senior Amia Nash, along with junior Camille Dyer and freshmen Kelly Ryan and Hannah Wood joined Ryan as Santa Clara's top five finishers at Golden Gate Speedway.

"Kelly has been a great, consistent performer for us," Montoro said. "This will be a good opportunity for her to take more of a leadership role on the trails."

The Broncos enter the season without three of their top runners from a year ago. Last year's seniors Kayla and Lauren Germany graduated in the spring, and senior Mary Kriege will redshirt this fall in order to develop a more consistent training regiment and recover from injury.

Those vacancies create a chance for returning upperclassmen and a young core of runners to step up for the Broncos this season. Montoro said Saturday's meet gave the coaches an early look at how the high level of fitness this early in the season translated to a race environment.

"We have a very talented group with great personalities for being competitive athletes," Cushman said of the women's team. "I think that there is a lot of potential." 

Santa Clara will have the rare opportunity to race on its home course — Sunnyvale's Baylands Park — three times in the 2014 season. The first of those races is the team's next event, the West Coast Conference Preview Meet on Sept. 13.

Later in the season, the Broncos race at Baylands in consecutive meets at the Bronco Invitational Oct. 18 and WCC Championships Nov. 1. This season marks the first time Santa Clara will host the conference championships, which were held in Belmont, Calif., from 1985-2011 before being hosted by Portland in 2012 and Pepperdine in 2013.

"I think that any upperclassman on our team is very familiar with the ins and outs of [Baylands Park]," Cushman said.  "We always race well there as a group. To go to the conference championship having raced on that course for the third time in a season only helps, not to mention the time we'll put in there during training."

Both the men's and women's teams will travel outside California, Oregon and Washington to compete in regular season races for the first time since 2011. In their third meet of the season, the Bronco men are slated to race at the highly-competitive Roy Griak Invitational at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. Sept. 27. Five teams that ran at the Griak meet last year sent runners to the NCAA Championship. 

"There's a large field on a championship-style course and it simulates championship racing really well," Cushman said. "We'll get a chance to see better teams from other regions that we don't see often, and how we stack up against them. Most of the meets we do are typically against west region teams." 

The women's team will venture from the west coast to race in the Montana Invitational in Missoula, Mont. Oct. 4. In last year's Bronco Invitational, the Broncos and Montana Grizzlies finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, and were separated by only two points and an average of 0.4 seconds as a team. Montoro said he is looking forward to a rematch on Montana's home course.

"We have to practice getting away. Most often, championship races are not going to be in our backyard," Cushman said. "This is a very young group with a lot of years ahead of it. They'll get the experience of travelling, sleeping in a hotel, racing competition you're not familiar with and running on a course you've never stepped on before." 

After wrapping up a regular season schedule that includes meets in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Davis, the Broncos return to Palo Alto for the NCAA West Region Championships Nov. 14. This year's NCAA Championships will be held in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 22, and the Broncos are looking to qualify for the first time in program history. 

Aside from minor year-to-year changes, coaches Montoro and Cushman said there is nothing radically different about their approach to this season. They described those changes as making each year 5-to-10 percent different than the last one.

"One thing that has changed overall in the last couple of years is that we've added much more of the supplemental aspect of training for distance running," Montoro said. "We've done a lot more weight room work last year and have carried that over into this season."

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