Bronco Runners Break Records

Eighth annual home invitational hosted last weekTyler J. ScottTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 24, 2013[dropcap]P[/dropcap]lenty of Santa Clara cross-country runners set personal records on Saturday at the eighth consecutive Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif. In the Bronco Open, the Santa Clara women’s team won with the men’s team finishing second.Sophomore Elsa Valenzuela finished at 22:57.8 and senior Kayla Germany finished right behind her with a time of 22:58.9.On the men’s side, Peter Stephens, a redshirt junior, was the team’s top finisher at 25:55.3. Contributing to the effort was sophomore Leland Wong with a time of 27:11.4 and redshirt freshman Matt Burke with a 27:29.3 finish.A large variety of teams and levels were represented in this meet. There were schools from three different NCAA Division I regions including top-25 teams from Stanford University and the University of Colorado as well as fellow West Coast Conference teams from Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, the University of San Diego, Saint Mary’s College and the University of San Francisco.The Bronco Invitational did not yield the same results, but the Santa Clara women’s team finished in sixth place and the men’s team came in 10th place. Loyola Marymount won both the men and women’s Bronco Invitational, beating the University of California, Santa Barbara by the score of 86-84. The Santa Clara men’s team, however, was without its two top runners in the tournament, senior Ben Demaree and redshirt sophomore Bryan Crook. Also, a few other runners were sick or just coming back from an illness.“Clearly we are a better team with them healthy and racing,” said Santa Clara Head Coach Felipe Montoro. “Adrian (Hinojosa), Moises (Venegas) and Sean (Roe) did a great job of stepping up and ensuring that the team was still competitive.”Sophomore Hinojosa was the best finisher in the Bronco Invitational. He crossed the finish line in 28th place with a time of 24:32.5.“(Hinojosa) trained really diligently this summer and made a commitment to himself and is seeing the results,” said Montoro.Venegas, the second Bronco to cross the finish line, earned himself a personal record after finishing with a time of 24:55.1. Junior Roe was the Broncos’ third-best finisher in 93rd place with a time of 25:17.5.On the women’s side, junior Mary Kriege led Santa Clara and finished the Bronco Invitational in 21st place with a time of 21:08.4.“Overall, I’m happy with my performance but there are some things I know I can improve on going into the postseason,” said Kriege.Montoro also commented on the junior’s race.“(Kriege) is tough as nails and always performs her best,” he said.Senior Lauren Germany was the second Santa Clara woman to cross the finish line. Lauren Germany notched a personal record 21:21.4 in the process.Coming in third for the Broncos was sophomore Allison Maio, who finished in 73rd place with a time of 21:52.4. Juniors Kelly Ryan and Audrey Hiatt finished up the Broncos scoring with finishes in 80th place at 21:55.0 and 125th place at 22:25.5. Maio and Ryan also earned themselves new personal record marks on the day.The invitational was the only home meet of the season and included five different races, including an Alumni/Community 5K, Men’s 8K Invitational, Women’s 6K Invitational, Men’s 8K Open and Women’s 6K Open. Following Saturday’s meet, the Broncos will have two weeks off before taking to the course at their next outing.“We are looking forward to both teams heading down to Malibu for the WCC championships,” said Montoro. “Both teams have put themselves in a great position to have our best races of the year; our expectations are high.”The team will travel to Southern California on Nov 2. for the conference championships. Contact Tyler J. Scott at tscott@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.