Cal Poly Cross Country Opens Season Saturday
9/1/2022 11:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The Cal Poly cross country program opens a new season and a new era Saturday at the Lagoon Invite in Santa Barbara.
The dual meet with rival UC Santa Barbara will be the Mustangs' first action under new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy and new women's cross country head coach Michelle Chewens.
"We are excited about the schedule we've put together for this season and are looking forward to going to a few meets that we haven't been to historically," Vanhoy said.
Saturday's 2022 season opener with the Gauchos, the defending Big West champions on the men's side, starts at 11 a.m.
"We will start the season with a low-key dual meet at UCSB," Vanhoy said. "We'll run some younger athletes who need some experience and a few returners who didn't get to race much last year."
The Mustangs then head to the Riverside Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17 to get a sneak peek at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course, the site of this year's Big West Cross Country Championships.
"Our trip to Riverside in September will be to preview the Big West meet course and debut a few more athletes from both teams," Vanhoy said.
On Friday, Sept. 30, Cal Poly will split the team for the first time in 2022. The Mustangs will send their top men's and women's runners to the prestigious Joe Piane Invitational in Notre Dame, Indiana, while the rest of the squad will travel to Lodi, California to compete in the Pacific College Invitational.
At the Joe Piane, Cal Poly will encounter some of the best men's and women's cross country teams in the country.
"We will run both full squads for the first time at Notre Dame, as we travel out of region to face some teams we don't usually see during the regular season," Vanhoy said.
The Mustangs will split the team for the second and final time of the season on Saturday, Oct. 15. Cal Poly's top runners on the men's side will head to the East Coast to take part in the XC23 Invitational hosted by the University of Virginia, while the remaining Mustangs head north to race in the Bronco Invitational at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, California.
The XC23 Invitational will be contested at Panorama Farms, the site of the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
"The men's team will travel to Charlottesville to preview next year's NCAA Championship course and again face some teams outside the West Region for at-large points purposes," Vanhoy said.
The Big West Championships are set for Saturday, Oct. 29, at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course. The last time the conference meet was held there the Mustang men captured their last of four straight Big West titles.
Last year, Cal Poly saw its conference championship streak on the men's side come to an end at the hands of rival UCSB, who edged out the Mustangs 50-38. But the Mustang men looked primed to regain Big West supremacy with all nine of the runners that competed in the 2021 conference meet returning — Will Fallini-Haas, Xian Shively, Anthony Guerra, Aidan McCarthy, Spencer Thurman, Colton Swinth, Rory Smail, Sam Roth and John Bennett. Fallini-Haas, Shively and Guerra all earned All-Big West honors in 2021 by finishing in the top 10 individually at the conference race.
Jake Ritter, the 2018 and 2019 Big West men's individual champion, is also back after missing last year's conference meet due to injury. Cal Poly finished 15th at last year's NCAA West Regional.
The Cal Poly women are seeking their first Big West crown since 2018 after placing third as a team last year behind UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton. The Mustangs return six of their top nine runners from 2021 — Schuyler Gooley, Julia Heckey, Claudia Miller, Sydnie Rivas, Misty Diaz and Amanda Olla. Gooley placed ninth at last year's Big West meet to secure All-Conference honors as a redshirt freshman.
The Mustang women were ranked No. 12 in the West Region in the preseason U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. Cal Poly placed 14th at the 2021 NCAA West Regional.
Speaking of regionals, the 2022 NCAA West Regional will be contested at Chambers Creek Park in University Place, Washington, on Nov. 11, while Oklahoma State University hosts the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 19 in Stillwater.
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