Cal Women Take USF Invite behind Santisteban Men place second overall

Cal Women Take USF Invite behind Santisteban Men place second overall

Sophomore Kelsey Santisteban led the Bears to victory at Saturday's USF Invitational.

Sept. 1, 2012

Men's Race Complete Results
Women's Race Complete Results

SAN FRANCISCO - Behind sophomore Kelsey Santisteban, the California women's cross country team placed first in the season-opening USF Invitational on Saturday at Golden Gate Park. The Golden Bear men placed second in the meet.

"It was a good beginning for us with a mixture of veterans and newcomers for this early season meet," said head cross country coach Tony Sandoval. "We split with Stanford and they mixed their squads as well. It gave our newcomers experience in a college race and a change to measure ourselves with Stanford's newcomers. It's very early in the season and we'll do the same strategy for the Sacramento meet next Saturday. The Virginia trip, we'll have a more complete team on both genders as it's a inter-regional meet with large points at stake. Nevertheless, with all the newcomers I suspect the line will change from meet to meet."

Despite lowering her course-record time by eight seconds, Santisteban placed second individually, running the 5000-meter race in 17:09.70. She finished just back of first-place Aisling Cuffe of Stanford (17:08:00).

As a team, the Bears recorded 32 points to edge out Stanford (35) for the victory on the women's side.

Freshman Mariel Mendoza placed fourth overall with a time of 17:47.50, while senior Hillary Hayes finished seventh with a time of 17:53.60.

The Cal men placed second overall as a team with 26 points, behind first-place Stanford (19 points). Tyler Stutzman finished the race in 24:45.00 to take home top individual honors for the Cardinal on the men's side.





Junior Augustine Alva, running in his first race for Cal, led the Bears with a fifth-place finish overall. He ran the 8000 meter race in 24:52.00.

Junior J.P. Slater was right behind Alva in sixth place with a time of 24:53.00 and senior Simon Schmidt was 11 seconds behind him to place seventh overall with a time of 25:04.00. Senior Renaud Poizat completed the race in 25:18.00 to place ninth overall for the Bears.

"I thought Kelsey [Santisteban] ran a very good race and just missed winning, Sandoval said. "Augustine [Alva] is the surprise of the fall for us. A late recruit from LA Trade JC, he demonstrated he will be a very good addition to an already deep but young group of men."

Cal returns to action next Saturday, Sept. 8, in the Hornet Jamboree in Sacramento, Calif. Action is set to get underway at 9:45 a.m. (PT).



USF Invitational Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Calif.

Men's Results
Team Results: 1.Stanford 19; 2. California 36; 3. Saint Francis 114; 4. West Florida 174; 4. Cal State Stanislaus 174; 4. Santa Clara 174.

Individual Winner: Tyler Stutzman (Stanford) 24.45. Cal Finishers: 5. Agustin Alva (24.52), 6. J.P. Slater (24.53), 7. Simon Schmidt (25.04), 9. Renaud Poizat (25.18), 11. Leland Later (25.23), 12. Matt Petersen (25.30), 16. Jared Hazlett (25.44), 18. Juan David Garcia (25.47)

Women's Results
Team Results: 1. California 32; 2. Stanford 35; 3. Cal State Stanislaus 108; 4. University of San Francis 119; 5. Saint Mary's College 183; 6. Santa Clara 193; 7. San Jose State 206; 8. Academy of Art 240.

Individual Winner: Aisling Cuffe (Stanford) 17.08. Cal Finishers: 2. Kelsey Santisteban (17.09), 4. Mariel Mendoza (17.47), 7. Hilary Hayes (17.53), 10. Sydney Gray (18.00), 12. Christine Bowlus (18.10), 13. Ashlyn Dadkhan (18.10).

http://www.calbears.com/sports/c-xc/recaps/090112aab.html

Courtesy Cal