2014 Bronco Invitational/Open Results
@-webkit-keyframes"dkaXkpbBxI"{ 0%{opacity:0.5;} 50%{opacity:1;} 100%{opacity:0.5;} } @keyframes"dkaXkpbBxI"{ 0%{opacity:0.5;} 50%{opacity:1;} 100%{opacity:0.5;} } |
Santa Clara, CA – With five personal records on the men's side and six by the women, ART U Cross Country had another memorable day in four separate races out at Baylands Park for Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational. In the invitationals, junior
Valentin Pepiot pushed through for a 14th place finish among collegiate qualifiers to pace a men's team that took 18th overall while redshirt freshman
McKaela Christenson and sophomore
Kaelyn Harbison both finished Top 50, each sporting lifetime bests to help Academy of Art to 16th as a team.
The morning began with the men's 8k invitational, a race that featured several NCAA Division I competitors, and Pepiot battling through the front pack for much of the distance before taking 14th with a 24:04.2. He was the top NCAA DII finisher with the next closest, Chico State's Alex McGuirk, coming in 16th at 24:04.3.
Second for the Urban Knights was freshman
Mack Marbas in 71st with a time of 24:55.0 for his new 8k personal record. He was 11 NCAA Division II spots behind Pepiot and dominated his previous lifetime best by over 40 seconds. Sophomore
Austin Esposito was next up in 107th at 25:35.3, setting up his new PR by more than 20 seconds. Freshman
Brett Bermudez (130th, 26:03.9) and sophomore
Logan Means (144th, 26:30.5) each turned in new bests as well. The men wound up 18th overall, beating out Sacramento State, former PacWest rival Grand Canyon, San Diego, and others.
Shortly after the conclusion of the men's race, the ART U women's squad stepped into the starting box. As they have done all season, Christenson and Harbison worked together throughout the 6k to finish 34th and 49th respectively among collegiate competitors. Christenson dropped her lifetime best to 21:28.3 while Harbison improved to 21:44.4. They were the third and eighth finishers among NCAA Division II runners.
Coming in at 91st, junior
Elizabeth Khuu posted a new PR of 22:19.3 (a 40+ second drop) while redshirt freshman
Ericka Taylor took 108th with a 22:36.7 to better her 6k best by nearly eight full seconds. In 120th, freshman
Jamie Morris offed 45 seconds from her top collegiate mark with a 23:02.4 to round out the ART U top five. The women's team took 16th overall to top Cal State Monterey Bay, Fresno Pacific, Grand Canyon, and others.
Though most of their competitors had gone in the invitational, the men had three in the open including freshmen
Austin Murray,
Maurilio Sanchez, and
Gage Benner. Sanchez had his best day as a collegiate, finishing 98th overall with a new personal record of 27:27.0 through the 8k course.
For the women, sophomore
Emily McCarty and freshman
Justice Hinojosa were in the open and McCarty had her top performance through three 6k races for ART U, finishing 23rd overall with 23:22.4 as her new PR.
Next up for ART U Cross Country will be the Pacific West Conference Championships set to be held in Fresno with Fresno Pacific this year's host.
