UC Riverside Invitational • Ag/Ops Course (Riverside, CA)
Bilo, Hutchins Lead Cal Poly to Winning and Runner-Up Scores
9/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Cal Poly cross country program finished second in the women's 6K race and then won the men's 8K event Saturday morning at the 36th annual UC Riverside Invitational.
Arkansas, ranked No. 12 in the latest national coaches poll, won the 6K with a score of 33 points, ahead of Cal Poly's 65.
Mustang sophomore Peyton Bilo, however, earned the individual title, posting a time of 20:05.4 around the Highlanders' Agricultural Operations Course. She was 21.9 seconds ahead of a trio of Razorbacks (Valerie Reina, Abby Gray and Carina Viljoen) who swept spots 2 through 4 in the field of 160 student-athletes.
It was already the second victory of the season for Bilo, who claimed the Lagoon Open on Sept. 3 on her way to a Big West Athlete of the Week accolade. In addition to ranking No. 5 on the course all-time, she was also 31.5 seconds faster than her pace from a year ago at the same venue, which hosted the 2015 conference championships.
Making her debut as a Mustang, freshman Morgin Coonfield (the runner-up at last fall's CIF State Championships) came in sixth place at 20:33.4, while senior Ashley Windsor (ninth at 20:37.6) also tallied a top-10 performance Saturday.
Four Cal Poly teammates also ran in the top 30: junior Molly Haar (in 25th place at 21:02.6), sophomores Julia Vasquez (26th, 21:03.8) & Katie Izzo (27th, 21:05.1), and senior Mary Jo Wright (29th, 21:07.3).
Sophomore Maddie McDonald also added a 46th-place 21:31.6, and junior Kylie Nishisaka came in 60th at 21:49.3.
UC Santa Barbara (fourth with 165 points), UC Riverside (seventh, 232), UC Irvine (15th, 341), CSUN (16th, 404) and Long Beach State (20th, 605) were also among the squads entered for the 6K.
Afterward in the 8K, Cal Poly won via 62 points, beating Cal Poly Pomona (90) and Utah Valley, ranked No. 11 in the Mountain Region (143), atop a 29-team field.
Mustang redshirt junior Clayton Hutchins finished second among the 392 total competitors with a time of 23:52.6.
Hutchins has now been in the top two at each of his meets to begin this fall, after his first-place showing at the Lagoon Open two weeks ago. Central Arizona sophomore Gilbert Kigen, the reigning two-year colleges national champion, prevailed by 14.7 seconds to earn medalist honors at the Inland Empire meet for the second year in a row.
Swarnjit Boyal was close behind for Cal Poly, as the senior took fourth place, in 23:59.9.
Also running in the top 20 for the Mustangs were junior Alex Heuchert (11th at 24:20.1) and sophomore Mikey Giguere (17th, 24:32.6).
Sophomore Peter Cotsirilos was 31st with a time of 24:53.1, followed by seniors Dimitri Voytilla (38th, 25:01.2) and David Galvez (43rd, 25:04.6) in the top 50.
Additionally, redshirt freshman Kaleb Kunes finished 61st in 25:18.3, joined by junior Zachary Wims (65th, 25:23.0), redshirt freshmen Wesley Walsh (84th, 25:35.9) & Alex Merder (90th, 25:39.5), sophomore Garrett Migliozzi (110th, 25:49.2) and redshirt freshman Evan Jameson (133rd, 26:04.2).
UCSB (sixth with 169 points), UCI (seventh, 180), LBSU (12th, 352), UCR (13th, 393) and CSUN (21st, 566) also fielded teams at the meet.
In the closing 5K race, three women also represented Cal Poly. Sophomore Hannah Hull came in 16th place (out of 250 runners), at 18:10.4, while redshirt freshman Delaney Fitzsimmons finished 17th in 18:14.8 and sophomore Ashley Cope was 39th at 18:44.3.
The Mustangs entered the week ranked No. 9 in the West Region on the women's side and No. 10 on the men's side. Next up, Cal Poly will train for the Stanford Invitational scheduled for Oct. 1.
