Wilson captures university's first-ever WCC championship
By Margo Consul and Nick Pinkerton
It was another record-setting weekend for the Santa Clara men's and women's cross country teams at the West Coast Conference Championships in Belmont.
Junior Stephanie Wilson continued her record-setting season by becoming the first Santa Clara cross country runner ever to win a WCC title. She took first at Crystal Springs course last Saturday at a 6k time of 20:32, tying the WCC course record.
Junior Robbie Reid made history for the men's team by taking second at Crystal Springs, marking the highest finish by a Santa Clara men's runner in a WCC Championship. He finished with an 8k time of 24:56.
Both teams got other top-10 finishes; freshman Mary Reynolds' 21:45 time was good for seventh place overall, and junior Chris Sampson placed seventh overall in the men's race with a time of 25:23.
Despite the record finishes, Reid and Wilson expected to perform well so that they could reach the highest level of competition.
"It's definitely something we trained for all summer," Reid said. "We're looking forward to regionals which is next. That goal is to qualify for nationals."
Overall, both the men's and women's team placed fourth, in the middle of the WCC competition field.
Wilson and Reid will lead their respective teams in the NCAA West Regional Championships, scheduled for Nov. 14 in Eugene, OR. In order to qualify for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23, they must finish in the top-25.
Wilson cruised to the WCC title, finishing 39 seconds ahead of Loyola Marymount's Shea Sheree. However, the wide margin of victory did not cross Wilson's mind as she had her mind on other matters.
She recalled a fellow teammate's previous experience running at Crystal Springs.
"This one girl on our team stepped on a lizard when she was running one day," Wilson said. "She gave me this note beforehand like 'Don't step on any lizards' and then she told me that I'd probably be thinking about that when I was racing. It kind of crossed my mind at one point."
Avoiding potential roadkill has not been the only strategy popping into the minds of Santa Clara's standout runners.
Reid and Wilson noted they have run fewer races this season but have increased their overall mileage during training.
"It helps that we haven't raced as many races this year, and so whenever we do race, we're going to be on because we're just ready to go," said Wilson.
"The longer that you're able to sustain high mileage and not get hurt, the more your running efficiency improves and I think you get a lot more confidence," she added. "Every year I've gotten a little more confident and right now, (I'm) just in the right mindset in terms of racing."
Reid's margin of error was smaller as he had to keep pace with the leading pack and eventually make a move to come away as the runner-up.
"I heard (San Francisco's Bor Ganbileg) start to breathe harder," he said. "I knew that he was more fatigued than me, so that kind of gave me a psychological edge. Once we passed the last turn, I kind of surged and I didn't hear him respond."
University of Portland won the men's title for the 31st consecutive time, an NCAA record. San Francisco brought home the women's title.
Contact Margo Consul or Nick Pinkerton at sports@thesantaclara.com or (408) 551-1918.