NCAA West Regional
Gaffney Earns All-Region Honors; Women Place 8th, Men 11th
11/14/2025 7:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Highlighted by an incredible individual performance from junior Kelli Gaffney and a strong showing by the Cal Poly women, the Mustang cross country teams competed in the NCAA West Regional on Friday at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex.
The women secured eighth as a team for the third straight season and the fourth time in the last eight years — tied for their third highest finish in program history at the meet. The men took home 11th out of 30 scoring teams.
Gaffney stole the show with the race of her life, running a lifetime best 6K time of 20:07.5 to place 16th overall and earn All-West Region honors by finishing in the top 25 as an individual. Gaffney is Cal Poly’s highest finisher on the women’s side at the regional meet since Peyton Bilo placed ninth in 2016.
This marks the third straight year that at least one women’s runner for the Mustangs secured All-Region honors after Tatiana Cornejo earned the praise back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024.
Gaffney’s sensational showing helped the Cal Poly women take home eighth with 284 points and finish ahead of ninth-place Oregon State, who they were projected to finish behind entering the meet.
Sophomore Nikki Bridges, the runner-up at this year’s Big West Championship, was the next Mustang to cross the finish line, capturing 50th (20:49.0). Sophomore Melisse Djomby Enyawe took 68th (21:08.5), sophomore Renae Searls 73rd (21:11.4), junior Sydney Sundgren 77th (21:15.40), redshirt senior Isabel Sanchez 97th (21:43.8) and redshirt sophomore Ashlyn Leath 157th (22:22.1).
On the men’s side, Cal Poly secured 11th with 286 points. In his final cross country meet as a Mustang, redshirt senior Spencer Pickren captured 38th overall with a personal best 10K time of 30:16.5 to lead the way.
Redshirt sophomore Dheeraj Gurusamy was next in 48th, running a lifetime best as well (30:24.2). Redshirt senior Bryce Kueker took home 57th (30:31.7), redshirt sophomore Rory Catsimanes 70th (30:49.9), redshirt freshman Eddie Sion 78th (31:00.4), redshirt senior Michael Chambers 79th (31:04.6) and true freshman Liam Miller 106th (31:32.9).
The top two teams on both the men’s and women’s side at the West Regional, along with the eight other regionals across the country, earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri. The remaining 14 spots for the 32-team fields on both the men’s and women’s sides along with the individual qualifiers will be announced during a selection show on NCAA.com at 2 p.m. PST Saturday.
Individually, Gaffney has a great chance to earn an individual berth to the NCAA Championships by being one of the top four finishers at the West Regional that is not a part of a team that qualified automatically or via an at-large bid for NCAAs.
