Rajpaul Pannu Captures Sac St. Inter-Region Title

XC | Rajpaul Pannu Captures Sac St. Inter-Region Title
Courtesy: SMC Athletics
Release: 10/04/2013

Courtesy: SMC Athletics
Rajpaul Pannu took home first-place in 23:28 for the 8K.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Saint Mary’s Men’s Cross Country team headed to the Sac-State inter-region Jamboree on Friday morning to compete in what would serve as the preview to the NCAA west region course. Five of the 14 participating men's teams are ranked regionally - including UCLA, which is ranked No. 12 in the nation.

The men’s race started to a fast pace at Haggin Oak’s golf course. Cal, UCLA and Cal Poly would jump to early leads. As the lead pack raced through two miles, Saint Mary’s senior Rajpaul Pannu was nicely tucked into the lead group. “The race was pretty windy.. I was just trying to do my best to stay with the front pack.” said Pannu.

By mile four the pack had slimmed down to three runners and Pannu was trailing Cal Poly’s senior Sean Davidson who had a good twenty meter lead. As the pack would make its move towards the front, so did Pannu. He would take over his first lead of the day with about 400 meters to go, out kicking the field to win in tremendous fashion crossing the finish line in 23:28 for the 8k.

“Honestly it felt like a hard tempo with a long surge at the end,” added Pannu. "I tried to learn from my mistakes from last race. I went out way too hard and got out kicked, so today I tried to be more patient. I am humbled by the win.”

Other solid performers on the day included junior Justin Jayme and freshman Matt Devries. As the race began to pick up in intensity these two Gael harriers would move up the pack and finish strong for the Gaels in 25:34 and 25:45, respectively.

"Matt had a solid race,” said head coach Marty Kinsey. “It's nice to see him moving fast after not racing for almost a year. He struggled a bit in his first 8k at Pepperdine, but was able to dig in here and adjust to 8k. Coach Kloos is making a valiant effort getting these men focused on what this sport is all about."

Next up for the Gaels is the Santa Clara Bronco invitational on October 19th.