SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Sophomore Nina St. John claimed medalist honors and the men captured the team title as the Cal Poly cross country program opened its season Saturday at the Lagoon Invite hosted by UC Santa Barbara.
Redshirt freshman Jake Richardson paced the Mustang men (36 points), who edged out the Gauchos (41) and Westmont College (53).
Richardson finished third overall in his collegiate debut at Cal Poly, running the 8K course in 25:23.79 and crossing the line just over 21 seconds behind UCSB's Ethan Godsey, who took first.Redshirt freshman Jake Richardson finished third in Saturday's 8K race.
"Today was a great way to start our 2022 season," first-year Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy said. "Our men's team competed well as a group and pulled out the team victory over the reigning Big West Champions. We held out many of our projected top scorers on the men's side so they could continue to put in a big training block at this time in the season. Today's results were an encouraging sign for our upcoming races."
St. John led the Cal Poly women's team, running the 5K course in 17:49.95 to capture the individual title, her first as a Mustang. This spring as a freshman, she placed eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Big West Track & Field Championships.
St. John finished two seconds ahead of UCSB's Sierra Ransweiler to secure first.
"Nina did a great job leading our women's team this morning, closing really well over the last half mile to take the individual win in an exciting finish," Vanhoy said.
As a team, the Cal Poly women took home second, finishing 13 points behind the Gauchos. Amanda Olla captured fifth, Isabel Sanchez seventh, Misty Diaz 12th and Emma McCain 15th to round out the five women that competed for the Mustangs in Saturday's meet.
"I thought the lineup that we ran today did a solid job, and we look forward to debuting our full team in a few weeks," Vanhoy said about the women's team.
Five Mustangs ran unattached in the men's race. Freshman Aidan Dimick led the way with an eighth-place finish, Sam Roth was 14th and freshman Oscar Gomez came home 18th.
Cal Poly returns to action Saturday, Sept. 17, at the UC Riverside Invitational. The meet will be held at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course, the site of this year's Big West Championships.
Full Cal Poly results, including those that ran unattached, are below.
