Bill Dellinger Invitational
Mustangs Impress at Dellinger Invitational; Men Capture First, Women Third
9/22/2023 8:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — In its second meet of the season, the Cal Poly cross country program showcased its might once again Friday as the men captured the team title and the women placed third at the prestigious Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by Oregon at the Pine Ridge Golf Club.
The Mustang men blew away the rest of the competition and took home first, beating out the host Ducks — ranked No. 15 in the nation — by 17 points (41 to 58) and No. 9 Portland, who took sixth (164 points). Six runners finished inside the top 25 individually, led by an incredible performance from Davis Bove. In his first race as a Mustang, the graduate transfer from LSU put on quite the show. In the final mile and a half of the men's 8K race, Dove hit the jets, took the lead and never looked back, securing the individual title with a time of 23:40.1.
Will Fallini-Haas, who placed second at the season-opening Big West Preview and at the 2022 conference championships, wasn't far behind, crossing the finish line in fifth (23:49.2). Aidan McCarthy, who earned First Team All-American honors in the 800-meter this spring, grabbed 15th (24:10.9), Anthony Guerra 17th (24:12.4), Colton Swinth 21st (24:17.0), Spencer Pickren 25th (24:21.1) and Oscar Gomez 41st (24:40.0) to round out the top seven runners for the Mustangs.
Chris Caudillo (45th, 24:40.0), Michael Chambers (53rd, 24:48.7), Tyler Downs (80th, 25:21.5) and Lewis Westwood (87th, 25:24.6) also competed for the men.
The women had an impressive day as well, securing third out of 14 teams and finishing 26 points ahead of fourth-place Oregon State, ranked No. 17 in the country. The only teams that finished in front of the Mustangs were No. 6 BYU (first) and No. 7 Oregon (second).
Schuyler Gooley paced the Cal Poly women, taking home 16th with a personal-best 6K time of 20:39.7. Hana Catsimanes, a junior who transferred to Cal Poly from Wake Forest this spring, also posted a personal best, running a time of 20:40.5 to place 18th overall. Tatiana Cornejo, the 2022 Big West XC Women's Freshman of the Year, secured a 20th-place finish (20:41.8).
Carissa Buchholz captured 39th (21:16.8), Julia Heckey 41st (21:16.8), Kaia Hoak 58th (21:35.1) and Riley Cash 59th (21:35.5) to round out the top seven runners for the Cal Poly women.
Isabel Sanchez (61st, 21:37.1), Ellie Baxter (69th, 21:52.7), and freshmen Kelli Gaffney (74th, 21:56.8), Ashlyn Leath (99th, 22:24.1) and Sydney Sundgren (110th, 22:40.8) also raced for the Mustangs.
On Friday, Cal Poly showed the rest of the West Region how much of a handful they will be on the men's and women's sides this fall.
The Mustangs will take another three-week break in action to prepare for a pair of meets on Saturday, Oct. 14. Cal Poly will send its top runners to Charlottesville, Va. to take part in the XC23 Invitational at the site of this year's NCAA Championships, while the rest of the team will race in the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara.
Players Mentioned
