OFFICIAL RESULTS
 
BILLINGS, Mont. – Ricardo Vargas and Leandro Candray captured All-West Region honors for their Top 25 finish, leading the Cal Poly Pomona men's cross country team to a fifth place finish at the 2022 NCAA Division II Cross Country West Region Championships Saturday at a frigid Amend Park in Billings, Mont.
 
Vargas ran the 13th-fastest 10-kilometer time in program history, crossing a frozen and snowy finish line in 30:29.9 to place sixth overall out of 150 runners. Candray battled the sunny and 15-degree conditions to place 18th overall with a time of 30:42.2 to earn the All-Region award.
 
Also scoring for the Broncos were Daniel Echeveste in 32nd place with a time of 31:21.8, Tom McDonnell took 34th place, clocking a 31:27.6, and Vincent Sarino rounded out the Top 5 for CPP with a 37th place finish, traversing the icy course in 31:32.5. Diego Duran finished in 47th at 31:41.2 and Gideon Pichardo took 74th with a time of 32:28.3.
 
Chico State won its sixth straight West Region title, and the 17th in the last 20 seasons. The Wildcats scored a 48 with three runners in the Top 9. Western Washington took second with 82 points and Azusa Pacific was third with 111 points as the three teams earned the automatic qualifier into Nationals in two weeks. Simon Fraser snagged fourth place with 126, just one point ahead of Cal Poly Pomona with 127 points.
 
Simon Fraser's Charlie Dannatt won the individual title, running the course in 30:07.4.
 
Cal Poly Pomona will await its Nationals fate when the NCAA announces the 34 teams (including the 10 at-large bids) that will compete at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships on Friday, Dec. 2 at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, Wash. The Broncos are looking to make their 23rd appearance at the national meet, and their eighth in the last nine seasons.
 
Bronco Bits

• Saturday marks the 31st meet for head coach Chris Bradford in his fifth season at CPP (six years overall).
• Ricardo Vargas (4:54) and Leandro Candray (4:56) recorded sub-5:00 average pace per mile times; it is the 80th and 81st time in the history of the CPP cross country program that a runner has clocked a sub-5:00 average mile time (out of 1,761 all-time finishes); Candray has done it four times this season and Vargas has done it three times.
• Ricardo Vargas' sixth place finish is the 27th time in program history that a CPP runner has earned a Top 6 finish in the Regional.
• It is the Broncos' 24th Top 5 finish in the Regional meet in program history.

 
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