Oct. 20, 2004

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the 7th annual Shoreline Invitational at Shoreline Park in Mountain View, Calif. after a strong showing last weekend at the VS Athletics/Cal Poly Invitational in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

SCU will only send a combined nine runners to Shoreline Park this weekend as the squads prepare for the West Coast Conference Championships, which will be held at Crystal Springs Cross Country Course in Belmont, Calif. on Saturday, October 29. At Shoreline, the women's 5K race will begin at 9 a.m., while the men's 8K will start at 9:45 a.m. The course, which is the same as 2003, circles around the hill at Shoreline Park and loops the golf course.

Last week, both the Bronco men and women competed well at Cal Poly. The men placed sixth, while the women placed seventh out of 11 teams.

Katie Hansen was the top Bronco finisher for the first time in 2004, as she placed 22nd. The senior from Lake Forest, Calif. posted a 5,000-meter time of 19:02.5.

Four Broncos, including Hansen, finished in the top-50. Kiley Strong posted a 5K mark of 19:23 to place 30th. Robin Bell and Ann Thomas crossed the finish line together as they finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Bell ran a time of 19:26.2, while Thomas finished in a time of 19:26.7. Blossom Marimpietri rounded out the SCU scorers, placing 54th with a time of 19:56.3.

On the men's side, freshman Michael Delaurenti continued to impress in his first collegiate season. The South San Francisco native was the Bronco's top finisher as he placed 18th in a 8,000-meter time of 27:19.5.

All five Santa Clara scorers placed in the top-50. Junior Chris Doerhoff finished 25th in a 8K mark of 27:33.1. In only his second race of 2004, sophomore Taylor Graham ran a time of 28:02.1 to place 34th. Freshman Andrew Blumel finished 39th in a time of 28:19. John Paul Thyken placed 41st to round out the SCU scorers with a time of 28:28.8.

Directions to the meet:

Exit Hwy. 101 at Amphitheater Pkwy. From North, take right onto Amphitheater Pkwy. at 1st light and head over Hwy 101 OR from South, merge onto Amphitheater Pkwy. Once on Amphitheater, go straight through light at Charleston Rd. At about 0.5 miles, turn right into Google parking lot. Course is across the street.