UCSB Lagoon Open • University Center (Goleta, CA)
Cal Poly Cross Country Sweeps UCSB at Season-Opening Lagoon Meet
9/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — In the first Blue-Green Rivalry matchup of 2016-17, the Cal Poly cross country program swept UC Santa Barbara at the Gauchos' annual Lagoon Open on Saturday morning, beginning the season with a 46-point margin of victory combined between both sides.
Mustang sophomore Peyton Bilo won the first race at 11 a.m., leading the women's squad to a 19-44 team win with her 5K time of 17:17.84 (more than 38 seconds faster than her debut at the dual a year ago).
UCSB's Jenna Hinkle broke up a clean sweep by coming in as the runner-up at 17:47.93, and Gaucho alumna Maxine Goyette entered on an unattached basis to record an unscored third-place 17:54.46, but Cal Poly monopolized spots 4 through 8 on the way to the dominant outcome.
Junior Molly Haar was next in with a time of 18:01.02, followed closely by sophomore Katie Izzo at 18:01.43, seniors Ashley Windsor & Mary Jo Wright at 18:06.18 and 18:15.14 for the final point contributions, and then sophomore Julia Vasquez at 18:16.27.
Also for Cal Poly — the defending Big West Conference champions — junior Kylie Nishisaka ran a 10th-place 18:19.93, ahead of teammates in 11th (sophomore Maddie McDonald at 18:20.61), 15th (sophomore Hannah Hull; 18:38.62), 16th (redshirt freshman Delaney Fitzsimmons; 18:39.27), 24th (sophomore Ashley Cope; 19:31.05) and 25th (redshirt freshman Megan Melnyk; 19:50.78).
In the ensuing men's 8K starting at 11:30 behind University Center, junior Clayton Hutchins also won the individual title, with a performance of 24:30.74 to set the tone for a similar 19-40 result.
The Gaucho men also had an alum near the front, as Hutchins outdueled reigning back-to-back conference medalist Bryan Guijarro by six seconds down the stretch while also taking 1:12.63 off his previous time at the meet in 2014.
They were followed by Cal Poly senior Swarnjit Boyal in third place at 24:38.58 and junior Alex Heuchert (on familiar terrain as a former Santa Barbara City College runner) in fourth at 24:45.11.
Next in for the Mustangs, sophomore Peter Cotsirilos took eighth place overall in 25:02.74, while the rest of the Cal Poly scoring was tallied by senior Dimitri Voytilla (11th overall, at 25:22.62) and sophomores James Welsh & Garrett Migliozzi (12th and 13th; 25:26.21 and 25:31.90).
Two redshirt freshmen claimed spots 16 and 17 for Cal Poly, as Kaleb Kunes and Alex Merder ran to times of 25:42.05 and 25:42.78.
Behind them, senior teammate David Galvez finished 18th in 25:50.37, followed by sophomore Mikey Giguere (in 19th, at 25:53.62), junior Zachary Wims (22nd; 25:59.24), redshirt freshman Wesley Walsh (25th; 26:20.96), sophomore Dustin Herold (32nd; 27:23.62) and redshirt freshman Evan Jameson (33rd; 27:35.99).
The Cal Poly men's squad was second at the conference championships a year ago to UCSB, 31-36.
The Mustangs will now train for the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17, held at the Highlanders' Ag/Ops Course.
