Big West Championships
10/31/2026 1:00:00 PM | Cross Country
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Fifth-year Tatiana Cornejo shattered the Big West meet record and Ag/Ops Course 6K record en route to capturing the women’s individual conference title to highlight Cal Poly cross country’s showing at the 2026 Big West Championships.
As a team, the Cal Poly men and women both placed third.
The California Baptist men and Utah Valley women won the team titles, spoiling the Mustangs’ pursuit of a historic fifth straight sweep of the Big West men’s and women’s conference championships.
Like she has all season long, Cornejo stole the show. The Elk Grove, Calif. native made the most of her fourth and final appearance in the Big West Cross Country Championships, outlasting Utah Valley’s Caren Kipsirat to claim the Big West women’s individual title. The two-time USTFCCCA All-West Region honoree crossed the finish line in a blistering 6K personal best time of 18:55.4, shattering the previous Big West meet record held by former Mustang Laura Hollander (19:12.6, 2012) by over 17 seconds and setting a new 6K course record.
Cornejo is the fifth different Mustang to capture the Big West women’s individual title (seventh overall) and the first since Schuyler Gooley in 2024.
The four other Mustangs that crossed the finish line behind Cornejo and scored for Cal Poly all ran 6K lifetime bests as well. True freshmen Isabella Ramirez and Sydney Middleton placed 17th (20:29.6) and 18th (20:31.7) respectively as Cal Poly’s second and third finishers. Senior Lianna Guerra secured 20th (20:33.1) and freshman Brenna Mannion took 21st (20:36.2) to round out the Mustangs’ top five runners.
Junior Nikki Bridges earned 28th (20:44.6) and senior Sydney Sundgren 47th (21:13.3). The Cal Poly women ended the race with 77 team points, 14 behind second-place CBU and 33 behind first-place Utah Valley.
On the men’s side, senior Dheeraj Gurusamy led the way with a 13th-place finish (23:49.4). Kyle Jakary continued a strong true freshman campaign by running an 8K lifetime best to secure 17th (23:55.6). Fellow freshman Andres Lomeli earned 19th with a personal best 8K time of his own (23:59.4), while sophomores J.R. Lesher and Miles Cook secured 20th (24:03.2) and 22nd (24:07.8) respectively.
Seniors Ethan Miller and Rory Catsimanes finished 29th (24:17.4) and 36th (24:25.8) and junior Devin Ibarra rounded out Cal Poly’s runners that competed at conference in 62nd (24:55.8).
The Cal Poly men finished in third place as a team with 91 points, 58 behind second-place Utah Valley (33) and 63 behind champions CBU (28).
Cal Poly will now shift its focus to preparing for the NCAA West Regional meet on Friday, Nov. 13, at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento.
