Results: Men | WomenSAN FRANCISCO – For the first time in the past three years, Academy of Art University men's and women's cross country opened its year at Golden Gate Park with the USF Invitational. In a meet where director of track & field/cross country
Torrey Olson emphasized collaboration, the women topped seven non-Division I schools (seventh overall) after four Urban Knights crossed the finish line at the exact same time. On the men's side, a second place result among non-DI schools (eighth overall) was highlighted by five runners ending together in a pack.
"Today was an exercise in teamwork," said Olson. "We learned some things about where we're at and had a lot of fun. I'm very excited about the way this team is carrying itself, and refocusing at every turn."
The women's 5k race started things off on a warm and sunny Saturday morning, perfect conditions in the city by the bay. Down the home stretch, the quartet of freshman
Emma Johnson, sophomores
McKaela Christenson and
Jamie Morris, and junior
Kaelyn Harbison literally finished with identical times down to a tenth of a second at 19:41.7. Senior
Elizabeth Khuu was a fraction of a second behind at 19:42.1 and all five finished 37th through 41st overall.
As a team, the Urban Knights beat out Cal State East Bay for the top non-DI placement by three tenths of a second and just two seconds off of sixth-place DI St. Mary's. UC Berkeley earned the top team finish as Bethan Knights won the meet with a 17:29.1 mark.
In the men's 8k, it was a similar story of unity as freshman
Phillip Kruse, senior
Valentin Pepiot, and graduate students
Pierre Fontanarosa and
Kris Everett all finished within tenths of a second from one another (27:11.8 to 27:12.0 and 59th to 63rd). Not far behind at 27:22.8 was the fifth ART U qualifier senior
Jack Nevins in 69th place.
Collectively, the men took second among non-DI schools behind American River and ahead of UC Santa Cruz as well as Holy Names. Cal topped the men's results too with the Golden Bears' Chris Walden serving as the race victor at 24:24.5.
Academy of Art will head out of the state for the first and only time in the next two months for the Ash Creek Invitational hosted by Western Oregon at the Ash Creek Preserve on Sept. 11.
