UCSB Lagoon Open • University Center (Goleta, CA)
Bilo, Ritter Lead Cal Poly to Pair of XC Wins at UCSB's Lagoon Open
8/31/2019 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Mustang Women's Squad Wins 18-41; Men's Team Earns 28-29 Blue-Green Rivalry Victory to Start 2019
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Led by a medalist performance by senior Peyton Bilo along with a runner-up individual finish from junior Jake Ritter, the Cal Poly women's and men's cross country teams began the 2019 season with a sweep against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at the Gauchos' annual Lagoon Open.
Bilo, who also won the meet in 2016 as a sophomore, claimed Saturday's victory with a 5-kilometer effort of 17 minutes, 53.6 seconds, setting the tone for an 18-41 team win. Ritter, the defending Big West Conference champion, clocked an 8k time of 24:38.7 (12.9 seconds back of Gaucho junior Nick Randazzo), as his squad won 28-29. Randazzo also won individually on his home terrain at the 2018 Blue-Green Rivalry matchup.
Beginning with the men's event starting out from behind the U-CEN building on-campus, redshirt freshmen John Bennett (24:41.9) and Will Fallini-Haas (25:09.1) tallied third & fourth-place performances to help lead the way to the victory.
Redshirt freshman Anthony Benitez added an eighth-place time of 25:29.43 in his scoring debut for the Mustangs, while junior Chas Cook (16th altogether in 25:54.7) rounded out the men's scoring, followed by redshirt freshmen Brett Hickman (24th overall; 26:45.6) & Hayden Hansen (25th; 26:49.3) .
Meanwhile, competing on an unattached basis, true freshman Will Sheaffer came in seventh overall (via 25:22.8), Manny Guzman took 18th (at 25:58.9) and Lucas Lacambra also posted a top-20 showing at his first collegiate meet, in 19th at 26:16.2.
Then in the ensuing women's race, Bilo (an All-American in 2016 after winning the Big West title) ran to the crown by a margin of just over 12 seconds, edging a fellow member of the conference champion club, teammate Miranda Daschian (last fall's individual champ, who also advanced to the NCAA Championships), second at 18:05.6.
Former Big West Freshman of the Year Sierra Brill, now a junior, tallied fourth place in 18:15.08, while junior Angela DiPentino (18:45.0) and redshirt freshman Misty Diaz (18:49.5) added sixth and seventh-place points, respectively. Junior Ashley Heys also clocked a top-10 effort, taking ninth with a time of 18:58.8, ahead of Chase Worthen in 15th at 19:09.1 and sophomores Sydnie Rivas (17th; 19:12.2) and Lexi Watkins (20th; 19:14.8).
Running in a non-scoring capacity (unattached), true freshman Aimee Armstrong finished eighth overall in 18:51.7, and Kaia Hoak was 11th in 19:01.8, before Giovanna da Silva took 18th altogether, at 19:12.8.
Cal Poly, ranked No. 7 in the Preseason Women's Regional Coaches Poll and No. 8 in the men's USTFCCCA Western Rankings, will now have a two-week training period ahead before its next meet.
The Mustangs return to the course at the UCR Invitational, hosted at Riverside's Ag. Ops. Course, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14.
