Santa Clara women’s cross country secured their best team finish in 18 years, placing third at the West Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 30 at Tecolote Shores North in San Diego’s Mission Bay Park. The men’s team also delivered a strong performance, finishing fourth.
The women’s team scored 84 points overall, just shy of their best WCC Championship finish of 81 points in 2008. Leading the way was Milaina Almonte ’27, who finished second individually with a time of 20:36:5 on the 6K course.
“With the momentum we’ve had in the last couple of years, this outcome was inevitable,” said women’s head coach Pete Cushman. “Just building the program over the last few years, it’s been fun to see that success come to fruition.”
Almonte finished only five seconds behind race winner Lathan West of Portland. Almonte remained in the front of the pack the entire race, running mostly in a trio with West and Faustine Chaboche of the University of San Francisco. Chaboche dropped with only about 600 meters remaining, leaving West and Almonte to battle it out for the individual title. West ultimately pulled away with the win.
Coach Cushman credited Almonte’s improvement from her sixth-place finish at last year’s championship to her consistency and commitment to improving.
“She shows up every day, she gets working every day, and she’s just been relentlessly committed to getting better,” Cushman said.
Sydney Lim ’28 also delivered a strong performance, finishing sixth overall with a time of 21:26:4. Lim stayed amongst the race’s top-15 for the majority of the course before surging to sixth place by the 5K mark.
“She raced really smart,” Cushman said. “The thing that really stood out to me is how much she believed in herself and her ability to do that, and she kept closing the whole way through.”
On the men’s side, the Broncos finished fourth overall with 102 points, their best conference championship result since 2024. Four runners placed in the top 25, continuing a strong run of conference performances. The program has now finished among the top four teams at the WCC Championships in seven of the past eight years.
Kaden Helder ’28 finished thirteenth overall with a time of 25:13:1. Helder steadily worked his way up throughout the race, starting in 27th place before moving past nine runners over the final five kilometers.
Jacob McManus ’29 led the Broncos with Helder, finishing fifteenth with a time of 25:22:9. Both Helder and McManus earned All-WCC Second Team honors.
Both teams look to carry their momentum into the postseason when they compete at the NCAA Division I Cross Country West Regional on Nov. 13 in Sacramento, California.