UC Riverside Invitational
Cross Country Heads to UC Riverside Invitational for Preview of Big West Course
9/20/2024 9:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After a three-week hiatus, the Cal Poly cross country program returns to action this Saturday to compete in the UC Riverside Invitational.
Racing starts at 7:15 a.m. Saturday with the women’s invite 6K, with the men’s invite 8K to follow at 7:50 a.m. Live results for the meet can be found above and on the Cal Poly cross country schedule page. Roughly 20 schools are expected to compete in the event, including most of the Big West teams.
The meet is being held at UCR’s Ag/Ops Course, the site of the 2024 Big West Championships. The last time Cal Poly stepped on the start line at the UCR Ag/Ops Course in 2022, the Mustang men and women both captured first at the conference championship meet to jump-start the program’s current two-year streak of Big West title sweeps.
The Mustangs opened their 2024 campaign with a dominant showing at the Waves Invitational hosted by Pepperdine on August 30, sweeping the team titles. The Cal Poly men obliterated the competition en route to a first-place finish as Mustang 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. The Cal Poly women bested six other teams in Malibu, rolling to a 20-point victory over Long Beach State (30-50). Three true freshmen paced the Mustangs as Nikki Bridges, Renae Searls and Melisse Djomby Enyawe placed second, third and sixth respectively.
None of Cal Poly’s top runners competed in the season-opening Waves Invitational, but several are expected to make their season debut in Riverside on Saturday, including 2023 Big West Men’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year Chris Caudillo, Colton Swinth, Spencer Pickren, Sophia Nordenholz and Tatiana Cornejo, who secured USTFCCCA All-West Region honors a year ago.
The last time the Mustangs took part in the UC Riverside Invitational in 2022 the men earned the team title, while the women finished second.
Following Saturday’s meet, the Mustangs will travel to Chicago on Friday, Oct. 4 to compete in the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola University Chicago.
Cal Poly’s entries for the UC Riverside Invitational can be found below.
Cal Poly Entries
Men
Rory Catsimanes
Chris Caudillo
Michael Chambers
Jude DeVries
Tyler Downs
Dheeraj Gurusamy
Bryce Kueker
Ethan Miller
Spencer Pickren
Micah Sanchez
Rory Smail
Carson Smith
Colton Swinth
Lewis Westwood
Women
Ellie Baxter
Nicole Bridges
Riley Cash
Hana Catsimanes
Tatiana Cornejo
Melisse Djomby Enyawe
Ella Echsner
Kelli Gaffney
Lianna Guerra
Sophia Nordenholz
Isabel Sanchez
Renae Searls
Nina St. John
Sydney Sundgren
