Results: Women | Men

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Running with some of the best NCAA competition at any division, Academy of Art University cross country successfully completed the Stanford Invitational on Saturday. Both the men's and women's teams finished middle of the pack in 17th place and were led by standout performances by senior Valentin Pepiot, who took fourth individually, and redshirt sophomore McKaela Christenson, who claimed 50th of more than 250 runners.

Christenson hung tough throughout the women's 6k race through the Stanford University Golf Course and turned in a time of 22:17.2. Nipping at the heels of a pair from Cal Poly, she would beat out a group of runners from Stanislaus State, UC Riverside, and Chico State. In 84th, junior Kaelyn Harbison turned in a time of 22:57.8 while freshman Emma Johnson followed closely behind in 89th (23:04.6). Running in a pack with Johnson midway through, senior Elizabeth Khuu (23:11.1) and freshman Giulia McIsaac (23:24.6) crossed the finish line 100th and 114th respectively.

The women's race was won by Erin Teschuk of North Dakota (20:06.8), but four Stanford runners in the top 10 gave the Cardinal a convincing team victory. The Urban Knights took 17th as a team, topping Southern Oregon, Pomona-Pitzer, Cal State Northridge, among others. 

On the men's side, Pepiot went on an absolute tear much like he did last year when he earned USTFCCCA National Runner of the Week after the 2014 Stanford Invite. Getting into the front of the pack that featured nearly 300 total runners, he remained calm and settled in with the top five for the duration of the 8k. Pepiot would make a strategic move down the stretch to pass the top two runners from Division I Cal Poly to earn his 23:53.2 mark.

The Knights' second finisher was graduate student Pierre Fontanarosa who came in 98th with a time of 25:43.8 and was followed by sophomore Chris Costa in 120th place at 26:09.3. Graduate student Kris Everett was not far behind, finishing 125th (26:19.1), while junior Austin Esposito's 26:49.9 put him 153rd.

Stanford's Sean McGorty was the race victor by more than a 20-second margin, going 23:07 to lead his team to the win as well. ART U ended up tied in terms of score with fellow PacWest competitors from Azusa Pacific, however, the Cougars had a 34-second margin on the Knights. Either way, both teams topped Sacramento State, Fresno Pacific from the PacWest as well, and Division I Cal State Northridge.

Academy of Art next returns to Golden Gate Park for the third time this year on Friday, Oct. 9 for the SF State Invitational.