STANFORD — The Gaucho women and men both took sixth place at the Stanford Cross Country Invitational, held on a hot Saturday afternoon at the Stanford Golf Course.
The women appeared to be on their way to a top-5 team finish, but Amanda Moreno was forced to retire due to an asthma attack with less than a kilometer remaining in the race. She was in 15th place overall at the time.
Breanne Strenkowski was the first Gaucho to cross the line, in 18th place with a time of 21:36 over six kilometers. Katie Voigtlander was next, in 32nd place at 21:58.
The other scorers were Crystal Reed (38th, 22:08), Andrea Jacobs (48th, 22:19) and Ashley Beechan (60th, 22:39). The team scored 198 points, behind fifth-placed Chico State (187) and ahead of seventh-placed Cal Poly (201).
The men were missing their top two runners, Scott Smith and Julian deRubira, due to health issues. The team fielded a squad of three seniors and four redshirt freshmen.
The top Gaucho was Waleed Totari, who took 13th place with a time of 24:38 over eight kilometers. He was followed by redshirt freshmen Juan Paredes, who took 24th at 24:54, and Bhavik Kanzaria, who was 42nd at 25:24.
The other scorers were Jeff Campbell (51st, 25:34) and Baxter Frick (59th, 25:45). The team’s 187 points placed them behind Long Beach State (168) and ahead of Loyola Marymount (219).
Stanford won the men’s race with a perfect 15 points, taking the top five places. The individual winner was Chris Derrick.
Stanford also won the women’s race with 24 points. The individual winner was Tara Erdmann, who was running unattached. The top collegiate runner was Jessica Pixler from Seattle Pacific, who took second.
The next meet for the Gauchos will be in three weeks, when both squads travel to Terre Haute, Ind. for the Pre-National Invitational.
