Big West Championships
Cal Poly Cross Country Eyes Big West Championship Four-Peat
10/30/2025 5:00:00 PM | Cross Country
HONOLULU, Hawai’i — One of the most dominant programs in recent Big West history, Cal Poly cross country travels to Queen Kapi'olani Regional Park in Hawai’i for the Big West Championships on Friday looking to achieve a feat no other team has ever accomplished.
Action from the 2025 Big West Cross Country Championships starts at 10:30 a.m. PDT with the men’s 8K race, followed by the women’s 6K at 11:30 a.m. PDT. Live results from the meet can be found HERE and you can follow Cal Poly track and field on Instagram (@calpolytfxc) and Twitter/X (@CalPolyTrack_XC) for live updates on the team’s performance.
Since the Big West began sponsoring both sports in 1983, no team in the history of the conference has ever swept the men’s and women’s cross country team titles four consecutive seasons. The three-time defending Big West Champion Mustangs have a chance to do just that this Friday.
Last year in Riverside, Cal Poly joined rarefied air after sweeping the conference titles for the third consecutive year, joining UC Irvine (1985-87, 1989-91) as the only two schools in the history of the conference to achieve a three-peat sweep.
The Mustang men secured their 20th Big West title overall a season ago and their seventh in the last conference meets thanks to a podium sweep of the top three places by Davis Bove, Chris Caudillo and Colton Swinth. None of those runners will be taking the start line for Cal Poly on Friday, in fact, the team will only three runners from last year’s squad championship competing in Hawai’i — redshirt sophomore Rory Catsimanes who was sixth in 2024, redshirt senior Michael Chambers who was 10th a year ago and redshirt senior Bryce Kueker who was 19th. Catsimanes earned Big West Men’s Freshman of the Year honors for his performance at the meet last season.
The other seven runners entered in Friday’s championship meet for the men are redshirt senior Spencer Pickren, junior Tyler Downs, redshirt sophomore Dheeraj Gurusamy, sophomore Devin Ibarra, redshirt freshmen Micah Grossman and Eddie Sion, and true freshman Liam Miller.
The Cal Poly men are currently the highest ranked Big West team in the USTFCCCA West Region rankings, checking in at No. 7, one spot ahead of No. 8 UC Davis.
The women rolled to their 10th Big West title and eighth in 12 attempts in 2024, 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. The Mustangs achieved just the third-ever Big West three-peat in women’s cross country last year and the first since UC Irvine four-peated from 1989-92.
The Mustangs’ top four runners from last year’s Championship run will not be on the start line Friday, but the team has four total returners from the 2024 title squad — junior Kelli Gaffney (12th), junior Sydney Sundgren (14th), redshirt senior Isabel Sanchez (24th) and sophomore Renae Searls (43rd).
Redshirt senior Nina St. John, redshirt sophomore Ashlyn Leath, and sophomores Nikki Bridges, Melisse Djomby Enyawe and Ella Echsner are the other five runners slated to compete for the Mustangs. Bridges will be looking to continue her strong second season as a Mustang on Friday after being Cal Poly’s top finisher at the last two meets.
Following Friday’s Big West Championship, the Mustangs will begin preparing to take part in the NCAA West Regional hosted at Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento on Friday, Nov. 14.
