Big West Championships
Cal Poly Cross Country Eyes Three-Peat at Big West Championships
11/1/2024 7:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The Cal Poly cross country program will be looking to make even more history and join an exclusive club when the Mustangs compete in the 2024 Big West Championships on Saturday at UC Riverside’s Ag/Ops Course.
Action from Riverside starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with the men’s 8K race, followed by the women’s 6K at 9:15 a.m. There is no livestream for the meet, but live results are available here. The awards ceremony will take place at 10:15 a.m. and a recap of the meet will be posted on the Big West YouTube at roughly 6 p.m.
The Mustangs are seeking to sweep both the men’s and women’s Big West team titles for the third consecutive year, a feat only one other school in conference history has accomplished. UC Irvine three-peated on both sides twice, first in 1985-87 and again in 1989-91.
On the women’s side, UC Irvine is the only team in Big West history to achieve a three-peat, winning four straight from 1989-92 and five consecutive from 1983-87.
The Cal Poly women had their strongest performance of the season in their last outing. The Mustangs rolled to the team title at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara, finishing with 45 team points — 75 points in front of second-place UC Davis (120). Junior Tatiana Cornejo led the charge for the Mustangs, winning the women’s 6K individual title with a time of 20:14.4. It was the third straight meet Cornejo was Cal Poly’s top finisher and the performance earned the Elk Grove, Calif. native Big West Women’s Athlete of the Week honors.
The Mustangs are seeking to become the first team on the men’s side to capture three consecutive Big West titles since Cal Poly four-peated from 2016-19.
In its last action of the regular season on Oct. 19, Cal Poly took part in the Pre-Nationals meet hosted by Wisconsin. The Mustang men secured 23rd out of 32 teams in a meet that featured 19 of the top-30 teams in the country. Cal Poly went stride for stride with some of the best in the country and finished in front of four nationally ranked teams. Graduate student Davis Bove paced the men, placing 15th overall in a loaded field with an 8K time of 23:08.6 on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The performance earned him Big West Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors for the fourth time in his career.
Cal Poly’s full Big West roster can be found below. The last time the Big West Championships were hosted at UC Riverside’s Ag/Ops Course in 2022, the Mustangs started their current two-year streak of conference title sweeps.
Following the Big West Championships, the Mustangs will head to Colfax, Wash. on Friday, Nov. 15, to race in the NCAA West Regionals hosted by Washington State.
Big West Championship Entries
Women
Ellie Baxter
Riley Cash
Hana Catsimanes
Tatiana Cornejo
Kelli Gaffney
Schuyler Gooley
Sophia Nordenholz
Isabel Sanchez
Renae Searls
Sydney Sundgren
Men
Davis Bove
Rory Catsimanes
Chris Caudillo
Michael Chambers
Jude DeVries
Anthony Guerra
Bryce Kueker
Aidan McCarthy
Colton Swinth
Lewis Westwood
