Distance Squads Compete Against Nation's Best
Sept. 27, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's and women's cross country teams competed against some of the nation's top distance squads Saturday at the Stanford Invitational and each came away with a feeling of optimism as the young season enters its midway point. The Bronco women finished sixth among 26 teams in the 6,000-meter invitational race, behind four teams ranked among the top-25 in the nation and finishing 14 places higher than last year's performance at the same competition. 18th-ranked UCLA took the team title, upsetting No. 2 Stanford by 19 points, with a score of just 37 points. No. 19 Wisconsin finished third, while 11th-ranked Arkansas took the fourth spot. Nevada placed two runners in the top-20 and edged the Broncos for fifth place with 219. "I was very pleased with our team performance today," said Bronco women's head coach Tom Service. "We had several runners change their place in our team scoring and that certainly helps to have that healthy competition within the squad. Four of the five teams that finished ahead of us were in the national top-25 and we came back to beat a very good Chico State squad that is one of the best teams in Division II. We improved our place at the Stanford Invitational by leaps and bounds over last year and today's race was a strong indicator of where our team sits right now."
Freshman Shannon Bell covered the course in a time of 22:01 to finish in 19th place in the individual race. She paced a Bronco squad that saw her sister, Robin, finish 40th in a time of 22:36 and fellow freshman Lauren Swigart cross the line in 46th at 22:44. Milena Basile was 72nd in 23:24 and Cara Payne rounded out the scoring with an 86th place finish in 23:39.
In the men's 8,000-meter race, the Broncos finished 14th in the 22-team field. Top-ranked Stanford took the team race with just 18 points, 36 points ahead of 24th-ranked Cal Poly. Chico State, ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II poll, finished third and 11th-ranked Harding (Division II) was fourth. Sophomore John Hinman led the Broncos with a 72nd-place finish with a time of 26:07. Ben Gauen ran 26:26 to finish 86th, while Chris Doerhoff toured the course in a time of 26:50. Pat Green crossed the line in a time of 26:57 and Ricky Bracket was SCU's fifth finisher in a time of 27:21. The Santa Clara men and women return to action next week with split squads attending the Willamette Invitational in Salem, Ore. and the San Francisco State Invitational at Golden Gate Park. |
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