Runners Eye Strong Finish

Cross-country welcomes conference opponents to track

Alli KleppeTHE SANTA CLARANovember 6, 2014

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ronco athletes made the most of their home-track advantage Saturday, with nine athletes setting personal records and senior Kurt Ruegg setting a school record in the 8K race.

“We’ve put hundreds of miles on this course just this fall, and there are no secrets or surprises along the way,” said Assistant Coach Pete Cushman.

At the end of the day, the team’s top five women’s runners all beat their personal best scores for the 6K.

This past weekend, the Santa Clara men’s and women’s cross-country teams hosted the West Coast Conference Championships at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale.

The men’s team placed fifth out of nine teams and the women’s team placed seventh out of 10 teams.

The first, third, fourth and fifth place runners of the men’s team all set new personal best 8K times.

Ruegg set a new school best with a time of 23:52.5 and redshirt junior Bryan Crook and junior Adrian Hinojosa finished with times of 24:22.9 and 24:36.2, respectively.

On the women’s side, the top three runners for the 6K were freshman Grayson Murphy with a time of 21:30.9, Kelly Ryan with a time of 21:41.5 and Hannah Wood with a time of 21:43.9.

Cushman cited familiarity with the course as “an absolute advantage” and also talked about how the team had been preparing for their races diligently.

With a successful weekend behind them, Cushman said that the teams will take a couple days off and recover “both physically and mentally.”

The team looks forward to the Doc Adams Invitational in Davis as well as the NCAA West Region Championships that take place in less than two weeks at Stanford.

“We can’t let up or be complacent,” Cushman said. “Our men will want to take another shot at (University of San Francisco) and (Gonzaga University) after falling short of them at conference.”

The men are also looking forward to racing against teams they don’t normally see in competition, some from the Pac-12 Conference and the Big West Conference.

As for the women, Cushman said that with conference teams at their heels, the team “wants to place better, relatively, in the region meet.”

These goals are important for several of the women runners, who will be competing regionally for the first time.

However, this does not concern Cushman.

“All seven on the line are learning to be fearless and aggressive, which are important qualities to have at regionals,” Cushman said.

This next weekend, the Broncos will race against the host team University of California, Davis as well as teams like University of California, Berkeley and University of the Pacific at the Doc Adams Invitational.

As Santa Clara approaches the end of their season, the Broncos aim to make one strong last appearance before regionals.

Until then, Cushman said the team’s plan is simple and they will be “going through the motions to stay sharp and get their head focused for a big race.”

Contact Alli Kleppe at akleppe@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.