Women Place Fourth, Men Fifth at Bronco Invitational

Saturday, October 15

Baylands Regional Park (Sunnyvale, CA)

8:45 A.M.

Bronco Invitational

Sydnie Rivas, Julia Heckey, Joe Piane Invitaitonal, 9-30-22

Photo by: Ian Baker

Women Place Fourth, Men Fifth at Bronco Invitational

10/15/2022 12:00:00 PM | Cross Country

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — The women captured fourth and the men took fifth at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara on Saturday in the final tuneup for the Cal Poly cross country program before The Big West Championships.

The Cal Poly women (149 points) finished in front of six Big West foes and behind second-place UC Davis (110). Three Mustangs placed inside the top 30 individually in the 6K collegiate race at Baylands Regional Park. Sydnie Rivas (pictured above on the left) set the pace, securing 20th with a personal-best 6K time of 20:39.6. Sophomore Julia Heckey (pictured above on the right) grabbed 22nd (20:45.2) and sophomore Carissa Buchholz 25th with a personal record of 20:48.0.

This was Rivas' highest finish in a race this season, and women's cross country head coach Michelle Chewens said she looked strong.

"Sydnie did a great job getting out well but conservatively enough to allow her to steadily move up throughout the race," Chewens said.

Redshirt junior Amanda Olla earned 40th (21:01.9), redshirt junior Misty Diaz 42nd (21:06.4), sophomore Nina St. John 47th (21:13.9), sophomore Ellie Baxter 50th (21:15.6) and junior Aimee Armstrong 78th (21:37.7) to round out the top eight finishers for Cal Poly. Olla, St. John and Baxter all ran personal bests.

"Our group is making good progress in training, and we are doing a great job running as a tight pack," Chewens said. "Now we just need to focus on moving up better throughout the race and that is something we will work on heading into The Big West Championships."

With 167 points, the Mustang men finished fifth out of 26 teams and ahead of all the other Big West schools that competed in the men's collegiate 8K with three runners placing in the top 40, led by redshirt freshman Jake Richardson, who took 21st with a personal-best 8K time of 24:08.5. Redshirt freshman Spencer Pickren earned 26th (24:17.3) and redshirt sophomore Lucas Lacambra grabbed 38th (24:24.3).

Cayden Hein captured 45th (24:25.6), Emmanuel Guzman 52nd (24:30.2), Michael Chambers 96th (24:56.6), Anthony Benitez 102nd (25:02.6) and Ben Laughlin 116th (25:06.8).

Five Cal Poly freshmen also ran unattached in the men's 8K open, with Aidan Dimick finishing third and Oscar Gomez fifth.

Cal Poly travels to UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course on Saturday, Oct. 29, for the 2022 Big West Championships.