2016 SF State Invitational Results
Men's 8k | Women's 6k

SAN FRANCISCO – A beautiful Friday afternoon at Golden Gate Park was enhanced by tremendous success for Academy of Art University cross country at the SF State Invitational. Led by the graduate student trio of Joshua Thorson (the race's individual winner), Pierre Fontanarosa, and Gatien Airiau all in the top five, the Urban Knights men's team earned first overall. For the women, it was junior McKaela Christenson along with sophomores Giulia McIsaac and Chandler Johnson who helped ART U claim a third place finish.

Ahead with an eight-man pack leading for much of the 8k, Thorson, Fontanarosa, and Airiau worked alongside one another throughout. In the final two kilometers, Thorson settled into a one-on-one with SF State's Drew Feldman, but down the last straightaway Thorson had opened up a 12-second margin for the individual title at 24:50.6. Fontanarosa and Airiau fed of each other and came through at fourth (25:17.8) and fifth (25:26.6) respectively.

Graduate student Kris Everett posted a 10th place result to add to the Knights' depth, going 26:04.5 in the end. Sophomore Jarred Gregory-Grimes emerged as the fifth ART U runner to qualify with a 27:02 time in 27th overall.

As a team, Academy of Art finished first of 12 squads out at Golden Gate Park on Friday, holding nearly a two-minute collective margin over host and second place SF State. The Urban Knights posted an average time of 25:44.30 through the 8k course.
 

Though a pack of runners from Sonoma State, Northwest Nazarene, and Humboldt State jumped out in front for much of the 6k race, the combination of Christenson, McIsaac, and Johnson remained steady not far behind. That trio would run all together down the stretch through the final two kilometers and they finished within four places of one another with Christenson 10th (22:39.8), McIsaac 11th (22:49.1), and Johnson 14th (22:56.3).

Academy of Art saw its top five qualifiers all cross the finish line in the top 30 as junior Jamie Morris picked up 26th overall (23:28.2) and senior Kaelyn Harbison pushed down the stretch for 27th (23:28.6).

The ART U women's team collectively took third place, less than a minute off of Humboldt State in first overall and Stanislaus State in second. Analicia Garcia of Sonoma State wound up the race's victor with a time of 21:56.4.
 

A portion of each ART U roster will be in action at Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational on Oct. 15 while others look ahead to the Pacific West Conference Championships on Oct. 22 in Hawaii.