Waves Invitational
Mustang Cross Country Sweeps Team Titles at Season-Opening Waves Invitational
8/30/2024 9:00:00 PM | Cross Country
MALIBU, Calif. — In its season-opening meet, the Cal Poly cross country program dominated sweeping the men’s and women’s team titles at the Waves Invitational hosted by Pepperdine on Friday.
Competing without its top runners on both sides, Cal Poly showed a third straight Big West Championship sweep is certainly within reach.
The Mustang men obliterated the competition en route to a first-place finish as Cal Poly runners claimed the first five spots to post a perfect score of 15 points. Redshirt freshman Rory Catsimanes led the way in his first action as a Mustang, capturing the individual title on the 6K course with a time of 17:32.5. Catsimanes, the younger brother of senior Hana Catsimanes on the women’s team, transferred to Cal Poly over the summer after spending last year at UC San Diego.
Four other Mustangs crossed the finish line right on the heels of Catsimanes to help the men complete the first through fifth sweep. Redshirt freshman Ethan Miller grabbed second (17:36.1), redshirt sophomore Carson Smith third (17:40.5), redshirt freshman Micah Sanchez fourth (17:45.5) and redshirt junior Bryce Kueker fifth (17:49.1). Redshirt sophomore Lewis Westwood (10th, 18:04.2) rounded out the runners that finished inside the top 10 for the Mustangs at the meet. True freshmen Aiden Aldana and Micah Grossman both had strong showings while running unattached, placing sixth (17:52.3) and ninth (18:00.6) respectively.
The men only had to contend with three other teams at the meet — host Pepperdine and Big West foes Long Beach State and CSUN. LBSU took second with 49 points, Pepperdine third (81) and CSUN fourth (99).
The Cal Poly women dealt with a little more resistance, facing off with six other teams, but didn’t have much of a problem dismantling the competition. Despite only having six runners at the meet, the Mustangs rolled to a 20-point victory (30-50) over Long Beach State and finished 43 in front of third-place USC.
Three true freshmen led the way for the Mustangs as Nikki Bridges secured second with a 4K time of 13:06.3, Renae Searls took third (13:10.6) and Melisse Djomby Enyawe grabbed sixth (13:19.5).
Redshirt freshman Lianna Guerra and sophomore Sydney Sundgren, 2023 Big West Cross Country Freshman of the Year, placed ninth (13:33.3) and 10th (13:36.5) respectively to round out the top five finishers for the Mustangs. Freshman Ella Echsner also earned 14th (13:45.6).
Cal Poly returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 21, to take part in the UC Riverside Invitational hosted at the Ags/Ops Course, the site of this year’s Big West Championship.
