Freshman Bryan Guijarro ran a 24:22.5 8k to finish fifth at the Big West Men’s Cross Country Championships, helping UC Santa Barbara to a second-place team finish on Saturday in Riverside, Calif.
Guijarro led a group of three Gaucho runners who finished among the top-eight. He was joined by seniors Jeremy Acosta (24:23.8) and Juan Paredes (24:29.3) who finished seventh and eighth respectively. Another freshman, Anthony Ortolan, finished in 28:38.5 who placed 12th.
UCSB finished second in the meet to Cal Poly by a 25-48 margin. UC Irvine (83), UC Davis (94) and Long Beach State (147) rounded out the top-five.
Guijarro was the top freshman finisher in a race that was run on UC Riverside’s Ag/Ops Course. He finished just 12.5 seconds off the winning time run by Cal Poly’s Chris Frias. In fact, Ortolan had the second fastest time of any freshman.
Seniors Baxter Frick and Bhavik Kanzaria gave the Gauchos a total of six runners in the top-20. Frick ran 24:54.5 to finish 16th while Kanzaria clocked 25:14.9 to place 19th. Two other UCSB freshmen also ran Saturday. Abel Mogesse ran a 25:23.4 and finished 24th while Shyan Vaziri went 25:42.2 for 29th. Sophomore Bryce Rausa just missed finishing among the top-30 at No. 31 with a time of 25:47.9.
WOMEN TAKE THIRD
Sophomore Dani Moreno ran a 20:25.4 over the 6k Ag/Ops Courseto help the UCSB women’s team to a third-place team finish at the Big West Women’s Cross Country Championship on Saturday.
Moreno, the Gauchos’ top runner all year, finished less than a second behind Katie Fry of UC Davis who was fifth. The race was won by Cal Poly’s Laura Hollander in a blazing time of 19:12.6, more than 30 seconds faster than the runner-up, Sarah Sumpter of UC Davis.
As a team, UCSB finished with 75 points. First-place Cal Poly edged Davis, 43-46.
Senior Cassie Brooker and sophomore Christine Cooperstein finished 13-14 in the race. Brooker clocked a 20:57.7, just over three seconds better than her teammate’s 21:00.8. Another senior, Ari Selix, gave the Gauchos four runners in the top-20 as she ran a 21:12.2 to finish in 20th.
UCSB had a pair of freshmen running in the championship meet. Sarah Shreck finished 22nd with a time of 21:14.2 while Maxine Goyette was 52nd at 22:26.8. Three others finished between Shreck and Goyette. Senior Courtney Lightfoot (21:27.3), sophomore Bailey Miller (21:51.6) and junior Jessica Chadwick (21:59.4) were 30th, 36th and 41st respectively.
