Cal Poly XC Secures 5 Big West Awards for Second Straight Year
11/27/2024 4:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After earning a third straight sweep of the men’s and women’s titles at the Big West Championships, the Cal Poly cross country program dominated the end-of-season conference honors released Wednesday yet again, winning five of the six yearly awards for the second consecutive year.
The Mustang men cleaned up, securing all three of the conference top honors for the second straight season. Graduate student Davis Bove received Big West Men’s Athlete of the Year honors once again, redshirt freshman Rory Catsimanes earned Men’s Freshman of the Year praise and Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy was named Men's Coach of the Year. It’s the eighth time the Cal Poly men have swept the Big West yearly awards.
On the women’s side, senior Schuyler Gooley was crowned Big West Women’s Athlete of the Year while head women's cross country coach Michelle Chewens was selected as the Women's Coach of the Year.
This is the third straight season Vanhoy and Chewens have won Coach of the Year honors, allowing Cal Poly to become just the second school in conference history to sweep the Coach of the Year awards in three consecutive years.
Davis Bove
Big West Men's Athlete of the Year
With Wednesday’s praise, Bove became the 10th repeat winner of the Big West Men’s Athlete of the Year award and the fifth in Cal Poly history. The Franklin, Tenn. native cruised to the Big West men’s individual title this fall with an 8K time of 23:51.3.
In his final collegiate race, Bove placed 38th overall at the NCAA West Regional less than two weeks ago. Bove finishes his cross country career as a three-time All-Region honoree, capturing eighth overall at the 2023 West Regional to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Rory Catsimanes
Big West Men's Freshman of the Year
Catsimanes shined in his first season as a Mustang after transferring to Cal Poly from UC San Diego over the summer.
The San Clemente, Calif. native earned All-Big West honors by placing sixth overall at the conference meet with an 8K personal-best time of 23:59.1. He was the Mustangs’ third finisher at the NCAA West Regional meet, taking 45th with a 10K PR (29:59.9).
Catsimanes is the 11th Mustang to be selected as Big West Men’s Freshman of the Year and the second straight, as Chris Caudillo won the award a year ago.
Ryan Vanhoy
Big West Men's Coach of the Year
Vanhoy was tabbed as the Big West Men's Coach of the Year after guiding the Mustangs to their 20th Big West title overall, third straight and seventh in the last eight conference meets.
Cal Poly coasted to the conference title, finishing a commanding 51 points in front of second place Cal State Fullerton. The Mustangs ended the conference meet with 22 team points, matching the exact same total they had when they won the Big West title in 2022 on the exact same course — UCR’s Ag/Ops Course.
Cal Poly swept the top three places in the Big West meet and went on to place eighth as a team at regionals, tied for their best result since placing seventh in 2013.
Schuyler Gooley
Big West Women's Athlete of the Year
Gooley led the Mustang stampede for the Cal Poly women at the conference meet, winning the women’s 6K Big West individual title with a personal best time of 19:47.7. The performance allowed her to earn All-Big West honors for the third time in her career and become Cal Poly’s first Big West individual champion on the women’s side since 2019.
Two weeks later, the Hopkinton, Mass. native grabbed 30th at West Regionals. Gooley is just the fourth Cal Poly athlete ever to win Big West Women’s Athlete of the Year and the first since 2019. Laura Hollander (2012-13) and Miranda Daschian (2018-19) both won it twice.
Michelle Chewens
Big West Women's Coach of the Year
Chewens is the first female coach in Big West history to win Coach of the Year three times and just the second coach overall to claim the award in three consecutive years, joining UC Irvine’s Vince O’Boyle. Chewens helped the Cal Poly women achieve history this fall as the Mustangs secured just the third-ever Big West three-peat and the first since UC Irvine four-peated from 1989-92.
The Mustangs left the rest of the teams in the dust at conference, finishing with 33 team points — the most by the Big West champion since 2021 and tied for the second-best score ever by Cal Poly at the meet.
At regionals, Chewens guided the team to an eighth-place finish for the second straight year and saw junior Tatiana Cornejo make history. Cornejo placed 25th overall to earn USTFCCCA All-West Region honors for the second straight year and become Cal Poly’s first multiple-time All-Region honoree since Peyton Bilo in 2015-16.
Cal Poly’s Big West title sweep this fall was their eighth in program history and they joined rarefied air becoming just the second school in conference history to achieve three consecutive sweeps of the men’s and women’s team titles.
