LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Cal Poly Pomona women's cross country team finished 19th overall at the NCAA Division II National Championships Saturday, as the Broncos battled another snowy course and temperatures in the 30s. Bellarmine University hosted the 6,000-meter race at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville.
"I thought that we did the best we could with the conditions we were given," Broncos head coach
Troy Johnson said. "This is a great learning experience for our team and we're aiming to be back next year to earn a better finish."
CPP was making its second appearance at the championships in program history. The Broncos first advanced to this stage in 1985.
As a team, CPP totaled 546 points. Grand Valley State captured the national crown, placing all five scoring runners in the top 20 overall.
#
Tiffany Dinh# led the CPP pack of seven with a time of 23:03.0, a mark almost identical to her performance at the West Regional event held on Nov. 20 in snowy Bellingham, Wash. She took 72nd overall on Saturday.
The next finisher for the Broncos in Kentucky was #
Diana Zapata#, who ended up 120th after crossing the line in 23:50.4. That mark proved to be nine seconds faster than her regional time.
Following closely behind Zapata was #
Amber Hebb#, who took 128th place at 23:56.3. #
Sarah Garcia# crossed the line next for CPP at 24:31.0 to take 149th.
#
Fabiola Lugo# closed out the Broncos' scoring with 165th after posting a mark of 24:54.0. The duo of #
Sarah Gulli and
Lauren Parr# finished together at 172nd and 173rd respectively.
Saturday's race marked the last in the CPP uniform for both Hebb and Garcia. An Alta Loma, Calif., native, Hebb competed in 26 races for the Broncos over her four-year career. Her best time in the 6,000-meter distance was 22:34.2 at the NCAA D-II West Region race of 2009, a mark that ranks ninth on the all-time CPP leaderboard. Also that year, she tallied the fifth-best 5,000-meter time of 17:55.7 at the UC Riverside Invitational.
Garcia, of Placentia, Calif., competed in 25 races during her four-year career as a Bronco. Her best 6,000-meter mark came at an important time of the 2010 season as she crossed the line at the conference championships in 22:40.0. That mark earned her 16th place overall, narrowly missing All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors.
The CPP squad will return five of its starting seven and with plenty of depth otherwise, the Broncos will be aiming for an improvement on the 19th-place finish of Saturday.
