Bove, Ritter Cap Off Stellar Track Seasons in LA
7/23/2024 6:30:00 PM | Cross Country, Track and Field
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Davis Bove and former Mustang Jake Ritter, two of the most successful distance runners to come through the Cal Poly track & field and cross country program in recent memory, wrapped up incredibly successful seasons on the track this weekend at Sound Running’s Sunset Tour meet in Los Angeles.
After finishing just .01 seconds away from advancing to the men’s 1,500-meter semifinals at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene on June 21, Bove returned to the track on July 12-13 to compete in the Ed Murphey Classic held in his home state of Tennessee. Bove started his showing at the meet by running a significant lifetime best of 3:35.91 in the 1,500 to place seventh in a competitive field, shaving over 1.2 seconds off his previous PR in the event. The following day, the 2023-24 Cal Poly Male Athlete of the Year hit the streets of Memphis for a 1-mile road race. Bove captured second with a time of 4:02.4, only finishing behind American Craig Engels, who narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in the 800 and 1,500 and was a six-time All-American at Ole Miss. Engels, a professional runner for Nike, is currently coached by Cal Poly Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy.
Bove built off that performance this past Saturday at the Jack Kemp Stadium in LA, running a PR of 3:35.35 in the 1,500 to finish seventh at the Sunset Tour. The race officially put an end to a remarkable summer on the track for Bove, which started June 1 at the Music City Track Carnival in Tennessee when the Franklin, Tenn. native shattered the school record in the 1,500 with a time of 3:38.4. Bove has run four personal bests in the 1,500 over the last seven weeks.
Bove, a graduate student who transferred to Cal Poly in the summer of 2023 after earning his bachelor's in bio-engineering from LSU, has one season of eligibility left in cross country.
Ritter, a member of Cal Poly’s distance team from 2017-22, ran an over 17-second lifetime best in the 5,000 at the Sunset Tour on Saturday, posting a time of 13:36.54 to place third overall. At the Portland Track Festival on June 8, Ritter recorded a personal best in the 10,000 of 28:19.67.
The successful summer on the track for Ritter came just months after the Citrus Heights, Calif. native competed in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials for the first time on Feb. 3 in Orlando. The three-time Big West Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year placed 91st overall.
In his final season as a Mustang in 2022, Ritter broke the Big West cross country 8K meet record en route to becoming the first athlete in conference history to capture three Big West individual cross country titles. Ritter then went on to place 12th at the NCAA West Regional to book his ticket to the NCAA Championships, where he earned 90th overall to become Cal Poly’s highest finisher on the men’s side at nationals since 2007. Ritter graduated from Cal Poly in the fall of 2022 with his master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering.
