Cal Poly Invitational
Bilo, Boyal, Van Dyke and Salas Lead Cal Poly at Duo of Meets
10/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Mustang Women Sweep CSU Bakersfield at Home Invitational
Teammates Compete on Upcoming NCAA Championships Course
LOUISVILLE, Ky. and SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly placed individuals in the top 70 of both races at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Kentucky on Saturday, while the Mustangs also had a successful morning at their annual home meet hosted opposite Cuesta College.
At Louisville's E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park — also the site of the NCAA Championships on Nov. 21 — the Mustang women took 15th place out of 45 teams in the 6K, totaling a score of 480. Fifth-ranked Michigan upset No. 2 Colorado for the title, 131-151, despite Buffaloes junior Erin Clark winning individually in 20:00.5.
Peyton Bilo continued her standout true freshman season for the Mustangs, finishing 44th in the field of 311, with a performance of 20:41.8. She rose from 58th halfway through.
Cal Poly sophomore Molly Haar also made a similar jump up during the latter half of the course, from 68th at the midway point to 55th (at 20:50.8). Junior teammate Ashley Windsor was also close behind, earning 66th place in 20:56.2.
Also competing for the Mustangs were seniors Erika Veidis (152nd, at 21:28.5) and Meghan Breadmore (291st, 22:34.3), junior Mary Jo Wright (206th, 21:45.4) and sophomore Sydney Szabo (183rd, 21:39.5).
To begin the day in the Midwest, Cal Poly compiled 593 points to finish 22nd among the 42 seeded men's squads running the 8K. Top-ranked Colorado defeated No. 3 Oregon for the overall crown, 89-151.
Swarnjit Boyal led the Mustangs for the fourth meet in a row, clocking a 66th-place 24:06.7. It was just 5.6 seconds away from the junior's season best at the same distance (course conditions aside).
Virginia Tech senior Thomas Curtin outran the other 287 student-athletes wire-to-wire to claim top honors in 23:18.2.
Following Boyal, Cal Poly's Garrett Migliozzi came in 114th place at 24:22.6, in front of fellow redshirt freshman Devon Grove (125th, 24:28.6), juniors Nick Woolf (135th, 24:32.0 while running his first race of the fall) and David Galvez (153rd, 24:39.9), and seniors Al Gamez Jr. (188th, 24:50.9) and Luis Morales (196th, 24:53.7).
Meanwhile at the Cal Poly Invitational at Fairbanks Memorial Course, senior Sara Van Dyke won for the third straight year, completing the women's 5K in 17:54.4 — a full 18 seconds ahead of her pace a season ago at the same venue.
Van Dyke's average mile equated to 5:45.8, as she set the tone for sweeping CSU Bakersfield 15-47.
A trio of Mustang true freshmen (racing on an unattached-scoring basis) swept the next three spots: Katie Izzo (at 18:03.4), Megan Melnyk (18:19.0) and Hannah Hull (18:22.3), while junior Mary Hillis was fifth (18:28.2).
On the men's side, junior Jesus Salas, a College of the Sequoias transfer, prevailed in the 8K, in 26:40.9 (averaging a 5:22.0 mile), edging true freshman Kaleb Kunes (26:44.3) and redshirt Peter Cotsirilos (26:44.9).
Fellow first-year Mustangs Alex Heuchert (at 26:53.6) and Wesley Walsh (26:57.6) rounded out the top five.
For full Cal Poly Invitational results, click HERE.
The Mustangs will have a two-week training period for the Big West Championships. This year's conference meet will be held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course.
