Bove Crowned Big West Men's XC Athlete of the Week for Third Time
10/8/2024 4:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the third time in his career and the first time this season, graduate student Davis Bove has been crowned the Big West Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week after a standout performance in Chicago.
Bove is the second Mustang to earn the honor this season, joining redshirt junior Spencer Pickren who received the praise on Sept. 24 following his showing at the UC Riverside Invitational.
The award for Bove comes after the Franklin, Tenn. had an incredible performance in his season debut at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola University Chicago this past Friday. He placed sixth overall with a blistering 8K personal best time of 22:56.41. His performance helped the Cal Poly men secure a fourth-place finish as a team and only finish behind three ranked teams — No. 10 Wisconsin, No. 12 Alabama and No. 18 Butler.
The showing by Bove in his season opener was no surprise as the 2023-24 Cal Poly Male Athlete of the Year looks primed to build off an incredible first year as a Mustang this fall. Last cross country season, Bove ran away with the Big West individual title and was crowned Big West Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year, leading the Mustangs to their second straight conference title sweep. He went on to finish eighth at the NCAA West Regional — tied for the second-highest individual finish by a Mustang man at the meet in program history — to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
This past spring on the track, Bove finished just .01 seconds away from advancing to the semifinals in the men’s 1,500-meter at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene and shredded the school record books. Indoors, Bove became the fifth Mustang ever to run a sub-four-minute mile with the second-fastest time in school history (3:58.0) and he established a program record in the men's 1,000 (2:20.97). Outdoors, he qualified for the NCAA West Prelims in both the 1,500 and 5,000, and scored a total of 18 team points for the Mustangs at the Big West Championships, winning the conference title in the men's 1,500 and securing second in the men's 5,000. He obliterated the school record in the men’s 1,500 this summer (3:37.13) and ran the third-fastest 5,000 time in program history (13:48.0).
This is Bove’s first time being named Big West Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week since Oct. 17, 2023. He has no collegiate eligibility remaining following this cross country season.
Cal Poly returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 19, splitting the team between the NCAA Pre-Nationals hosted by Wisconsin and the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara.
