Women's Results | Men's Results

Photo Gallery (images by Rob Garcia)


"The general theme and focus for the teams today was: 'Grind,'" associate head coach Torrey Olson said. "Anytime you've got over 100 people cheering, that just helps you because every time somebody cheers for you, it's a reminder that to keep you mental focus going, to push a little bit harder, and to grind. That definitely helped and it fit in with the theme. Plus, it's just awesome. Aside from a national championship, I haven't seen a race where you have 100 students out supporting a cross country team. It was an incredible experience and I'm looking forward to doing this again next year. I know the teams really appreciated it."

The women's race came first and featured a career best for five of the six runners. Michaels came in at 23:00.3, her lowest time of the season though not a career mark, and secured 12th place as the lead Knight. She was followed closely by Kaelyn Harbison who knocked nearly two full minutes off her last 6k time, going 23:07.4 and taking 15th overall.

"Arianna ran well and for [both she and Kaelyn], compared to how the season's gone, you could really see them come on," Coach Olson said. "They were in the race and Kaelyn ran a huge PR; any time you're taking off more than a minute, that's pretty awesome. But more importantly, she was competing and in there the whole way. She's making big strides so we're excited to see how that goes when we get to conference."



Kayla Pritchett was the third ART U finisher, coming in at 29:25 to place 73rd. The trio of Mistic Scott, Keanna Moody, and Dierra Haven stayed together throughout and crossed the finish line at 78th – 80th respectively.

Overall, the women would earn ninth as a team, beating out Pacific West Conference opponents Holy Names and Notre Dame de Namur while sitting behind NCAA Division I San Jose State. The individual team champion (by a significant margin) was Cal State Stanislaus though Zuleima Jimenez of SF State grabbed first place at 21:37.1


It was a rather impressive collective performance on the men's side all seven competitors turned in personal bests to put them third as a team. The squad leader was Rifflard at 25:21.3 and second place not far behind the meet winner Steven Martinez of San Diego Mesa. Rifflard dropped a little over 30 seconds off his previous mark in his debut at the Stanford Invitational.

At 10th overall, Jack Nevins achieved a new personal record of 26:00.7 which dropped down from his previous mark of 26:12.2 that came at the 2012 Bronco Invitational. Down the stretch, Nevins was able to jump ahead of Humboldt State's James Dagley and nearly cost the Jacks the meet as SF State was close behind.

Finishing third for Academy of Art was Austin Esposito, who delivered a 26:36.5 personal best mark as part of his 19th place result. Like Nevins, he was sandwiched between two Humboldt State finishers. Temarius Walker also offered a personal best of 26:58.3 en route to 27th place individually.

The final three Urban Knights to cross the line, Logan Means (33rd, 27:16.6), Conrad Larson (38th, 27:45.7), and Nicholas Alexander (57th, 31:11.6) each added personal records with all going at least 1:30 below their previous time.

"On the men's side, we had PRs across the board," Coach Olson said. "Any time that happens, it's a very good thing. We're excited and we feel the momentum of the season is starting to build. We're putting some pieces together from the training and it's good to see that out there. I still think there's some more especially for the people new to collegiate cross country, but it's a step so we're really excited about this. It's definitely our best result so far for the season."

The 'Rec Sports Day' event itself was a success on many levels for ART U Athletics as it offered a fun opportunity to try a variety of games while also uniting the student body around the cross country teams.

"It's important for us as the Urban Knights to bond together, come out to our athletic events, cheer on our fellow student-athletes, and have a good time," Director of Athletics Colin Preston said. "It was a great day to be in Golden Gate Park and this was a good opportunity for students to visit a different part of San Francisco. We thank our cross country team for their hard work today and look forward to the rest of the season."

Academy of Art Cross Country has one final meet in which to compete before heading across the bay for the PacWest Championships in early November. Next up is Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational which will take place at Baylands Park on Saturday, Oct. 19.