SAN FRANCISCO – Santa Clara cross country opened its 2021 campaign at the USF Invitational Saturday with the women taking fourth in the 6k and the men finishing seventh in the 8k.
The top finisher on the women's side was Abbey Meck who completed the race in 21:44.2, good for seventh. JJ Escalera (13th, 21:56.1), Kinsey Hall (14th, 21:58.6), Katie Castelli (35th, 22:32.2), and Maiya Fujiwara (36th, 22:33.0) rounded out the Broncos' scoring group. Also racing were Adelaide Vergnolle, Hannah Aguirre, Luciana Lenth, Irene Nagasaka, Kaitlyn Twadell, Kayla Neumann, Sasha Codiga, Hannah Covington, Jasmin Peterman, Kailee Johnson, Claire Cocales, and Rocky Doering. Codiga's time of 23:15.1 was a personal best, topping her previous of 23:38.2.
Santa Clara finished tied with Gonzaga with 97 points but the Bulldogs won the tiebreaker on account of their first, fourth, and fifth scorers (3-24-25) outdoing the Broncos (7-32-33).
San Francisco took home the team title with 45 points. Tierney Wolfram of Nevada was the top individual finisher.
"I'm thrilled with how we competed today," associate head coach Pete Cushman said. "We came into this race with a lot of unknowns, and certainly a lot of race rust, but across the board we ran well. We ran tough, we looked experienced, and I think this is a great place to start and set the tone for what we want to accomplish this fall."
The men's scorers were Ishaan Singh (26th, 25:37.1), Dominic Baciocco (29th, 25:45.9), Ian Kirk (35th, 25:56.5), Oliver Branham-Upton (55th, 26:29.6), and Brendan Mulvany (26:33.8). Steven Lin and Dion Dupree also raced. It was a personal best for Kirk, topping his previous best of 26:33.5.
Stanford scored 49 points to win the team title with the Cardinal's Evan Burke the top individual finisher.
"I was really excited to watch the guys compete," Santa Clara head coach Felipe Montoro said. "They did a great job in what was for many their first attempt at the 8000 distance. Ishaan, Dom and Ian had a great day, and I'm looking forward to coming back next week with this group."
UP NEXT
The Broncos race at the San Francisco State Invitational Friday.
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