2016 University of San Francisco Invitational Results
Women's 6k | Men's 8k
SAN FRANCISCO – Challenging a collection of NCAA Division I and II talent, Academy of Art University men's and women's cross country opened the 2016 season in Golden Gate Park at the 24th University of San Francisco Invitational. The women, who were led by sophomore
Chandler Johnson's top placement among DII runners, claimed sixth overall while the men finished seventh with another top DII runner in graduate student
Joshua Thorson.
Saturday began with a women's 6k that featured No. 7 Stanford, UC Berkeley, San Jose State and other DI institutions. Johnson came across the finish line in 32nd overall, but was first out of the 20 Division II runners in the race with a time of 22:38.6. She was followed by sophomore
Giulia McIsaac in 43rd overall who delivered a 23:08.1.
The five Urban Knights qualifiers all finished in the top 50 as senior
Kaelyn Harbison took 45th (23:17.0), redshirt junior
McKaela Christenson claimed 48th (23:24.1), and just a fraction of a second separated junior
Jamie Morris in 49th (23:24.4). As a team, the women were sixth, but earned first among the three DII schools by more than a six minutes.
On the women's side, USF took first as a team though Stanford's Vanessa Fraser and Elise Cranny shared the individual title, both going 20:52.3.
Out of nearly 120 runners from 10 teams competing in the men's 8k, Academy of Art had Thorson among the front pack with Thorson 20th overall sporting a time of 25:10.5. He steadily made his move down the stretch, rising 10 places in the final 6k and beating out a contingent of six Stanford runners. Fellow grad student
Gatien Airiau was next in 47th at 25:52.3, just behind Cal State East Bay's top finisher.
Grad student
Pierre Fontanarosa crossed the line in 51st overall (25:58.9) while redshirt sophomore
Brett Bermudez (68th, 26:33.1) and sophomore
Jarred Gregory-Grimes (80th, 27:08.4) rounded out ART U's top five.
Though Stanford came into the year ranked No. 4, it was UC Berkeley who took the team title after Trent Brendel (24:21.1) and Robert Brandt (24:22.2) went one and two individually.
The Urban Knights will return to Golden Gate Park in just under two weeks for the SF State Speedway Duals on Sept. 15.
