University of San Francisco Athletics

Men's Results | Women's Results

SAN FRANCISCO — Both the San Francisco men's and women's cross country teams posted strong starts to their 2018 seasons on Saturday, as each earned fourth-place finishes at the 26th Annual San Francisco Invitational in Golden Gate Park.
 
MEN
 
Chris Olley was the highest-placing Don on the day, finishing second overall in the men's race with a time of 24 minutes, 36.8 seconds on the 8-kilometer course at Speedway Meadows. He was just five seconds behind race winner Garrett Corcoran from California, who won in 24:31.2. Olley trailed Corcoran by three seconds at the 4 km mark, but he closed the gap and was neck-and-neck with him at the 6 km mark. But Corcoran pulled away around the final 2 km loop for the individual victory.
 
Jack Rowe gave the Dons two finishers in the top-five with a fifth-place finish in 25:02.0. The San Francisco men scored 84 team points with two finishers in the top-five and four in the top-30. California won the team title with four finishers among the top seven. Stanford was second with 65 points, and West Coast Conference rival Santa Clara finished third with 68 points after sticking three straight finishers in the top-10.
 
Scott Halstead (23rd, 25:36.3) and Daniel Maneloveg (26th, 25:42.1) were the Dons' other top-30 finishers. Jacob Hernandez rounded out USF's top-five with a 34th-place finish in 25:53.3. Caleb McClain tucked all of San Francisco's finishers inside the top-40 with a 39th-place showing in 26:16.0.
 
WOMEN
 
The San Francisco women topped WCC rivals Saint Mary's (7th) and Santa Clara (9th) en route to a fourth-place finish (90 points) by putting three runners in the top-15 and four in the top-20. Merel Van Der Marel led the Dons in her collegiate debut with an 11th-place finish, running 21:53.6 on the 6 km course. Alena Ulrichova gave USF back-to-back finishers by coming in 12th in 21:59.9.
 
Josien Sheepens was the Dons' third top-15 finisher, placing 15th with a time of 22:05.3. Josephine Brysting gave USF four in the top-20 with an 18th-place showing in 22:10.4. Emma Stahr was the Dons' fifth scorer in 34th place with a time 23:04.1. Valerie Almanza finished 41st in 23:18.1.
 
Stanford won the team title Saturday thanks to a 1-2-3 sweep of the top individual spots. Christina Aragon won the race in 21:17.3, with her teammates Fiona O'Keeffe (21:17.3) and Elise Cranny (21:17.4) right next to her. Nevada was second as a team with 66 points and three in the top-10, and California was third with 85 points.
 
COMING UP
 
The Dons will train for the next two weeks before returning to Golden Gate Park on Sept. 21 for the San Francisco State Invitational. One week later on Sept. 28, they will travel to the prestigious Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisc., hosted by the University of Wisconsin.