Santisteban Guides Cal In Wisconsin Invitational Sophomore places 10th overall

Sophomore Kelsey Santisteban placed 10th overall in Friday's prestigious Wisconsin Invitational.

Oct. 12, 2012

MADISON, Wisc. - Sophomore Kelsey Santisteban led the California women's cross country team with a 10th-place finish overall in the prestigious Wisconsin adidas Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Cross Country Course on the University of Wisconsin campus Friday afternoon.

The Golden Bear men placed 36th overall in a very competitive field of 46 schools that included 19 teams ranked in the top-30 in the nation, while the Cal women finished 42nd out of a competitive field of 49 schools, 20 of which ranked among the top-30 in the country.

Santisteban ran the 6000-meter course in 19:57 to place 10th overall. Cal Poly's Laura Hollander won the event in a time of 19:33.

Freshman Mariel Mendoza completed the race in 21:27 and junior Elisa Karhu recorded a time of 21:42. Freshman Ashlyn Dadkhah and junior Hillary Hayes raced together in the event with Dadkhah (21:53) finishing a second ahead of her teammate Hayes (21:54). Junior Juliana Green (22:04) and sophomore Rebecka Oberg (22:51) also competed for the Bears on Friday afternoon.

Freshman Matt Carpowich paced the Cal men, running the 8000-meter race in 24:19 to place 109th overall, while sophomore Chris Walden was right behind with a time of 24:24. Senior Renaud Poizat (24:38), sophomore Agustin Alva (24:56), freshman Leland Later (25:17) and seniors Simon Schmidt (25:34) and Matt Petersen (26:13) also competed for the Bears in Wisconsin.

Several additional members of Cal's men's and women's cross country squad will compete in the Bronco Invitational at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, Calif. on Saturday morning. The women's 5000-meter competition is set to begin at 9:45 a.m., while the men's 8000-meter race is slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. The event begins with an 8 a.m. "Jog for Jill" 5K walk/run competition to raise money and awareness for lung cancer. Jill Costello was a coxswain on the California varsity rowing team when she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009. Costello continued to compete with her team and guided the Bears to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2010 before passing away two months later.

Men's Results
Team Results (top-five): 1. Stanford 135; 2. Iona 145; 3. Oklahoma 166; 4. Texas 267; 5. Arkansas 308; 36. California 892.

Individual Winner: Lawi Lalang (Arizona) 23:03. Cal Finishers: 109. Matt Carpowich 24:19; 122. Chris Walden 24:24; 185. Renaud Poizat 24:38; 224. Agustin Alva 24:56; 252. Leland Later 25:17; 273. Simon Schmidt 25:34; 288. Matt Petersen 26:13.

Women's Results
Team Results (top-five): 1. Iowa State 109; 2. Stanford 181; 3. Arizona 242; 4. Washington 252; 5. Cornell 264; 42. California 1001.

Individual Winner: Laura Hollander (Cal Poly) 19:33. Cal Finishers: 10. Kelsey Santisteban 19:57; 210. Mariel Mendoza 21:27; 246. Elisa Karhu 21:42; 267. Ashlyn Dadkhah 21:53; 268. Hillary Hayes 21:54; 289. Juliana Green 22:04; 312. Rebecka Oberg 22:51.