McDonald, Fitzsimmons Also Post Historic Times for Mustangs in Bay Area, While Cotsirilos Almost Wins at Distance Carnival
PALO ALTO and HAYWARD, Calif. — Swarnjit Boyal took second place in the men's 10,000-meter run late Friday night at the 43rd annual Stanford Invitational, only 2.57 seconds back of earning top honors at Cobb Track, leading the Cal Poly track & field program at one of the Mustangs' three meets throughout the weekend.
Boyal, a senior from Yuba City, moved from No. 9 to No. 5 in school history with his performance of 29:05.54.
With 11 laps remaining, Boyal maneuvered from 11th to ninth among the field of 40, and fluctuated between eighth and 10th-place positioning for the next seven laps. He then accelerated all the way up to fourth with three-and-a-half laps left, before setting up a three-way battle alongside Oregon's Tanner Anderson & Adams State's Sydney Gidabuday approaching two laps to go.
Gidabuday, a four-time Division II individual national champion, prevailed down the stretch, winning at 29:02.97, while Anderson, an All-American for the Ducks last spring, finished third in 29:07.39.
The defending Big West Conference champion for the event, Boyal is looking to make a return trip to the NCAA prelims after his trip to Texas last May.
Also Friday at Stanford, Sean McDermott came in 13th place in Section 3 of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, at 9:21.85. Air Force's Andrew Milliron won in 8:54.56.
Earlier, at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival hosted at Chabot College, Mustang senior Peter Cotsirilos almost won the 1,500 meters, taking third place with a time of 3:48.93. Also in Section 1, Utah State's Clay Lambourne edged teammate Jordan Beutler for the win, 3:48.71 to 3:48.87.
It was the second straight sub-3:49 showing for Cotsirilos, as he established a career-best 3:48.80 at home for the ShareSLO Invitational a week ago. Alex Merder finished in 18th place overall among the 131 individuals at Chabot, clocking a 3:54.05, while Robert Franklin added a 44th-place 3:59.07.
Maddie McDonald improved her career-best performance in the 3,000m steeplechase, taking eighth place altogether, in 10:41.33. McDonald cut 2.3 seconds off her PR, which already ranked No. 3 in school history. Delaney Fitzsimmons also improved her top time for the steeple, moving from No. 10 all-time at Cal Poly to No. 5, thanks to her 11th-place 10:47.49.
Logan Marshall also clocked a 23rd-place steeple of 9:17.21 on the men's side.
Closing the evening at the Distance Carnival, Cal Poly junior Miranda Daschian was the runner-up in Section 2 of the 5,000 meters (eighth overall amid seven sections), posting a time of 17:01.41. Janelle Lincks of the Boulder Track Club won at 16:29.96.
Seven Mustang underclassmen also competed in the 5,000, as Sierra Brill took 31st place in 17:26.75, ahead of fellow freshmen Abbey Fisk (43rd; 17:36.31), Angela DiPentino (47th; 17:41.63) & Kelsey Takeuchi (64th; 17:55.32), followed by redshirt freshman Cate Ratliff (88th; 18:13.85) along with sophomores Ashley Heys (94th; 18:24.25) & Chase Worthen (116th; 18:44.31).
Mikey Giguere paced Cal Poly in the men's 5,000 meters, recording a 15th-place time of 14:24.96. Evan Jameson also came in 32nd in a field comprised of nine sections featuring 226 competitors, at 14:42.42. Behind him were Jake Ritter (14:43.66; good for 37th), Tim Chrisman (14:49.87; 54th), Hunter Clark (14:58.57; 81st) & Benjamin Holland (15:11.90; 115th).
Hannah Hull also PR'd in the 1,500 meters, earning 21st overall with a time of 4:33.95, followed by Melodie Leroudier (67th, at 4:46.73) & Rachel Bordes (4:49.95; 79th).
Cal Poly will continue its weekend at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Challenge on Saturday.
In addition to the Mustangs and hosts, the Orange County meet (which goes from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) also features CSU Bakersfield, Cornell and UC Davis.