NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The University of San Francisco women's cross country team grabbed its sixth consecutive top-three West Coast Conference Championship finish Wednesday, and the men's team finished just outside the top-five, as both teams competed in the 2020-21 version of the WCC Championship at Craig Ranch Regional Park.
 
WOMEN
 
The women's team finished third (68 points) for third straight season, was among the WCC's top-three for the sixth straight time, and among the WCC's top-five for the 17th year in a row. The Dons' 68 points Wednesday were their fewest at the WCC Championship since winning the title in 2017 with 20.
 
"Going into today's championship, we knew that it was going to be a tough team battle with Portland and BYU," said San Francisco interim head track & field and cross country coach Tim Riley. "We came up a bit short on the scoreboard but did manage to place in the top-three in a conference that just keeps getting better every year."
 
McKenzie Yanek (fourth) and Eve Jensen (ninth) both earned first team all-WCC honors with top-10 finishes to lead the Dons. Yanek was the race's leader through the 2-kilometer and 3 km marks and was still in second place at the 5 km mark before finishing fourth in 20 minutes, 18.9 seconds, in the 6 km race. Jensen was among the top-10 the entire race, finishing in 20:42.9.
 
Zoe Wassell gave USF three finishers in the top-15 with her 14th-place showing in 20:56.9. Abby Pradere was four seconds outside of the top-20, finishing 21st in 21:41.2. Baneet Bains was close behind in 24th to round out the Dons' scoring in 21:49.3. Sophie Soefeldt (32nd, 22:24.4) and Kalii Caldwell (41st, 22:55.3) were the Dons' No. 6 and 7 runners, respectively. Maddy Hamilton (45th, 23:00.8) and Anna Tait (49th, 23:18.1) also competed for the Dons Wednesday.
 
"McKenzie Yanek ran a gutsy race to finish in the top-five, as well as Eve Jensen to finish in the top-10," said Riley. "But my hat goes off to Kalii Caldwell, who we made a last-minute decision to race. Her determination and performance was truly inspiring. The tough part is waiting until March 7th to find out if our women's team will make it to the NCAA Championships. I feel between today's result and beating some very good teams at the Oregon Open, our resume speaks for itself."
 
BYU won its third straight women's title, scoring 28 points by placing three in the top-five and four in the top-seven. Portland's Anna Pataki was the race's individual champion in 19:56.0.
 
MEN
 
The USF men finished sixth with 176 points, ending a 16-year run of top-five finishes for the program at the conference championship. Daniel Maneloveg led the way for the Dons with a 28th-place finish over the 8-km course in 24:44.0. Ed Kiolbasa was USF's No. 2 runner on the day, finishing 34th in 25:00.8. Caleb Haugland finished in the Dons' top-three with a 46th-place showing in 25:47.8.
 
Jacob Hernandez was right behind Haugland in 48th place with a time of 25:54.1. Ben Preddy gave the Dons a nice 3-4-5 pack of just 13.5 seconds when he finished close behind Hernandez in 26:01.3 (51st). Dan Skovron finished 76th overall in 28:08.1
 
"On the men's side we knew it was going to be very competitive from teams 4-8 and we had to run a complete race," said Riley. "We were much closer to doing that today than at Oregon, which is definitely something to build on. I thought Daniel and Ed really put themselves in a position to succeed. Caleb and Ben made great steps forward today, as well as Jacob closing out his cross country career at USF on a positive note."
 
BYU won its sixth consecutive men's championship thanks to putting all of its top-seven runners among the top-15 finishers, including three in the top-five for 25 points. Conner Mantz won his second straight individual title in 22:54.4.