Waves Invitational
Mustang Cross Country Opens Season at Waves Invitational
8/28/2024 3:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The Cal Poly cross country program officially begins its journey for a third straight Big West Championship sweep this Friday when the Mustangs open their 2024 campaign at the Waves Invitational hosted by Pepperdine University.
Action starts at 4:30 p.m. Friday with the men’s 6K, followed by the women’s 4K at 5:15 p.m.
In addition to host Pepperdine, Cal Poly will encounter runners from Big West foes Cal State Bakersfield, CSUN and Long Beach State, as well as Loyola Marymount and USC during the meet.
The Cal Poly men are expected to have nine attached runners take part in the season-opening invite, along with a handful of freshmen competing unattached. Seven women will take the start line for the Mustangs, including four true freshmen — Nikki Bridges, Melissa Djomby Enyawe, Ella Echsner and Renae Searls. Cal Poly’s top runners on both sides will not be racing in Malibu.
This fall, the Mustangs are looking to continue their reign at the top of the conference and sweep the Big West men’s and women’s team titles for the third straight year and the eighth time overall. Cal Poly looks primed to do just that as the team returns nearly every runner from its 2023 Big West Championship sweep.
For the Mustang men, seven of the nine runners that competed in last year’s Big West Championship are back along with the team’s top five finishers in the meet — Davis Bove, Aidan McCarthy, Anthony Guerra, Spencer Pickren and Chris Caudillo. Bove cruised to the 2023 Big West individual title to become the ninth Cal Poly man to claim the honor, while McCarthy (second), Guerra (fifth) and Pickren (sixth) all earned All-Big West honors by finishing in the top 10. This fall will be the final action of Bove’s collegiate career as he has no eligibility remaining in track and field. Last year in cross country, the Franklin, Tenn. native placed eighth at the NCAA West Regional, tied for the second-highest individual finish by a Mustang man at the meet in program history.
The Cal Poly women return the top eight finishers from their 2023 Big West Championship team — Schuyler Gooley, Hana Catsimanes, Tatiana Cornejo, Carissa Buchholz, Riley Cash, Isabel Sanchez, Sydney Sundgren and Ellie Baxter. Gooley (fourth), Catsimanes (sixth), Cornejo (seventh) and Buchholz (eighth) all grabbed All-Big West honors at the meet. As a sophomore last fall, Cornejo placed 23rd at the NCAA West Regional to claim All-West Region praise and become the highest finisher on the women’s side for the Mustangs since 2018.
Following Friday’s meet, the Mustangs will take three weeks to train and prepare for the UC Riverside Invitational held on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the site of this year’s Big West Championship. The last time the conference meet was held at UCR’s Ag/Ops Course in 2022, the men and women both placed first to jump-start the program’s current two-year streak of Big West title sweeps.
Cal Poly’s entries for the Waves Invitational can be found below.
Cal Poly Entries
Men
Rory Catsimanes
Tyler Downs
Dheeraj Gurusamy
Bryce Kueker
Ethan Miller
Micah Sanchez
Rory Smail
Carson Smith
Lewis Westwood
Women
Nicole Bridges
Lara Carrion
Melisse Djomby Enyawe
Ella Echsner
Lianna Guerra
Renae Searls
Sydney Sundgren
