McKINLEYVILLE – It was a banner day Saturday for the Cal Poly Pomona men’s cross country team.
Led by
Jersain Torres and
Matt Prentice, the 15th-ranked Broncos featured four All-CCAA competitors and placed second in the CCAA Cross Country Championships, held at the Beau Pre Golf Course.
“We have a great group of guys who have competed very hard this season,’’ said Broncos coach
Troy Johnson, who did not make the trip this weekend as he and his wife Erlyn became parents to a baby daughter (Ela) on Friday morning. “The guys ran like champions and we just finished outside of a conference title. This year close means second.’’
Torres completed the 8,000-meter layout in 25 minutes, 1.3 seconds and finished third. Prentice was fifth at 25:09.8.
Mariano Baez was the third Bronco runner inside the top 10 as he finished ninth in 25:38.4.
Stephen Kent was the fourth Bronco to earn All-CCAA honors by placing 13th (25:50.6).
Juniors
Jose Marquez was 26th (26:48.7) and
Jose Lara was 29th (26:57.5).
"Our guys went out and challenged today,'' said assistant coach
Tony Reyes. "It was noticed and a number of coaches shared that with me. Jersain ran a great race and Matt was right with him. Mariano was the guy who really stepped it up today. And Stephen made it four for us -- a sound effort from our guys and it was great to see.''
Chico State placed six runners in the Top 10 to capture the title. The Wildcats tallied 20 points to finish ahead of second-place Cal Poly Pomona (53). Humboldt State (75) was third and followed by Cal State Stanislaus (118), UC San Diego (119), San Francisco State (149) and Cal State Monterey Bay (220).
The team championship marked the eighth in a row for the Wildcats, who were led by individual champion Jimmy Elam. The Chico State senior ran 24:50.3.
Elam was named Runner of the Year while his Chico State teammate Brent Handa was Newcomer of the Year and Luis Galicia of Humboldt State was Freshman of the Year. Galicia finished 18th in 26:12.3.
Chico State head coach Gary Towne was named Coach of the Year.
Teams next compete at the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 7 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and hosted by San Francisco State.
(Thanks to the CCAA for contributing to this release)