In a close competition of Big West Conference schools, UCSB finished in 8th place out of 26 teams Saturday at the Stanford Invitational cross country meet.
UC Davis, another Big West school, finished one spot ahead of the Gauchos in 7th place with 219 points, while Cal Poly tied the Gauchos in 8th place with 244 points. Long Beach State and UC Irvine finished 10th and 12th respectively.
In their first real test of fitness, Jeremy Acosta and Juan Paredes led the Gauchos finishing in 26th and 27th overall in a time of 24:27 for the 8k course. Andrew Pilavjian was the next Gaucho across the line in 66th place with a time of 25:07. Bhavik Kanzaria was the 4th Gaucho finisher in 73rd place with a time of 25:11. Rounding out the 5 scorers was Doug Whichard in 104th place with a time of 25:35. Izzy Hernandez and Tyler Brady were the 6th and 7th place Gauchos finishing with times of 25:46 and 26:00 respectively.
The Gaucho women will compete next weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational against a solid group of nationally ranked teams. The UCSB men’s team will return to action on Oct. 15 when it travels to the Northridge Invitational.
