Cal Poly Distance Squad Adds Four Talented Transfers
7/19/2023 6:00:00 PM | Cross Country, Track and Field
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — In their first year at the helm in 2022-23, Cal Poly Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy and women's cross country head coach Michelle Chewens began building the foundation for a powerhouse distance program on the Central Coast, sweeping the Big West Cross Country Championships.
On Wednesday, the program officially announced the addition of four talented transfers that will join the team for the 2023-24 season. The men's distance squad is welcoming three transfers — Davis Bove (LSU / Franklin, Tenn.), Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos (Wake Forest / San Diego, Calif.) and Bryce Kueker (San Diego Mesa / San Diego, Calif.). Hana Catsimanes (Wake Forest / San Clemente, Calif.) is the lone transfer for the women's distance crew.
The four transfers join an impressive incoming class of freshmen for the distance team, made up of 10 men and eight women.
A two-time Second Team All-American in the indoor mile, Bove owns a pair of individual school records at LSU, shattering the Tigers' indoor 3,000-meter record (7:53.73) this past season and breaking the program's indoor mile record (3:56.38) in 2022.
Across four seasons at LSU, Bove qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries in the 1,500 twice (2021, 2023), finished runner-up in the mile at the 2023 SEC Indoor Championships and earned a career-best finish of 25th at the 2021 NCAA South Central XC Regional. This past season, Bove also anchored LSU's indoor distance medley relay team at the Alex Wilson Invitational, where they broke the school record with a time of 9:22.83 — the 13th fastest in Division I in 2023.
Bove isn't just a distance runner either. He won the 2019 USA Triathlon Junior National Championships and was crowned the 2022 U.S. champion in the triathlon in the U23 age group. Bove has one year of eligibility left in track and field and two in cross country. He graduated from LSU magna cum laude with his bachelor's in bioengineering and will be pursuing his master's in business analytics at Cal Poly.
Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos / Wake Forest / San Diego, Calif. / 1,500: 3:43.86, 3,000: 7:53.84, 5,000: 13:39.83Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos
Across five years at Wake Forest, Martinez de Pinillos recorded six top-10 individual marks on the Demon Deacons' all-time list. He is second-fastest in Wake Forest history in the indoor 5,000 (13:55.85) and is No. 3 all-time in three events — the indoor 3,000, and the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 (29:07.07). The San Diego native also ran the second leg on Wake Forest's indoor distance medley relay team in 2022 that posted the fifth fastest time in program history (9:40.54).
This past fall, Martinez de Pinillos helped the Demon Deacons capture fifth as a team at the NCAA XC Championships by placing a career-best 100th overall. The team captain also led the Wake Forest men to their first Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1994.
In 2022, Martinez de Pinillos qualified for the NCAA East Prelims in the 5,000 and 10,000, and he secured a trip to the 2021 meet in the 5,000. Martinez de Pinillos, who owns a personal best 10,000 time of 29:07.07, only has one year of eligibility left in outdoor track and field.
Bryce Kueker / San Diego Mesa College / San Diego, Calif. / 3,000 steeplechase: 8:53.13Bryce Kueker
A steeplechase specialist, Kueker obliterated the San Diego Mesa College school record in the event this spring, running a time of 8:53.13 at the Mt. SAC Relays. Kueker is only the third athlete in San Diego Mesa history to run a sub nine-minute time in the steeplechase.
Kueker captured the CCCAA State championship in the steeplechase the past two years (2022-23) and took eighth in the 5,000 at this year's meet. He won the steeplechase at the inaugural Conover Classic in March and is a two-time CCCAA Southern California champion in the event. In cross country, he also placed 12th at the 2022 CCCAA State Championships.
The transfer has two years of eligibility left in both track & field and cross country beginning this fall.
Hana Catsimanes / Wake Forest / San Clemente, Calif. / 1,500: 4:29.62, Mile: 4:50.14, 5,000: 16:17.50
Hana CatsimanesAfter placing 56th at the NCAA Southeast XC Regional this past fall at Wake Forest, Catsimanes transferred to Cal Poly this spring, recording personal bests in both the 1,500 and 5,000 while redshirting.
In 2022, Catsimanes anchored Wake Forest's indoor distance medley relay, which posted the 10th-fastest time in school history (11:32.70) at the Bob Pollack Invitational. During her Demon Deacon career, the San Clemente native competed in the ACC Championships three times in both track and cross country and ran in the NCAA Southeast Regional twice.
Catsimanes, who owns a personal best 3,000 time of 9:37.17, has two years of eligibility left in all three seasons (cross country, and indoor and outdoor track & field) beginning this fall.
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