By: Alex Kline, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
SAN MARCOS, CA – The #19 ranked men's cross country team placed second in the Cougar Challenge on Saturday morning, including four individuals placing in the top 10 in a field of 174. The 8K race was held at Mangrum Track & Field on the campus of Cal State San Marcos.
The Broncos totaled 35 points with a total time of 2:04:33 and average time of 24:54, just 33 seconds behind the Cougar Challenge winner in Chico State (2:04:00). #19 CPP and #6 Chico State were the only two teams to finish with scores below 100 and an average time under the 25-minute mark in the field of 15 teams.
Among the top finishers for the Broncos were
Daniel Echeveste (4
th place, 24:48.1),
Leandro Candray (6
th place, 24:50.6),
Francisco Zavaleta (8
th place, 24:53.4), and
Nicholas Albro (10
th place, 24:57.4).
Vincent Sarino nearly cracked the top 10 as well, finishing in 13
th with a time of 25:04.2. In total, 10 of the 11 Broncos finished in the Top 50 of the race, five of which finished in the Top 15.
"I thought we had a really good day for both the Men and Women," said head coach
Chris Bradford. "The Men had a really impressive day, again back-to-back 8k races is tough and this week we were racing one of the best teams in the country [Chico State]. They were able to run in a strong pack with just 17-second spread from 1-5 and go nearly man for man with #6 team in the country. The goal is to take these successes and build off of them as we are about a month away from the important races."
Up Next
The Broncos will compete in the Pomona-Pitzer Invite on Saturday, October 7
th, at 9:00 AM. The race will be held at the Pomona College Campus Course in Claremont, CA.
Bronco Bits
- The Broncos' 2nd place finish at the Cougar Challenge is their highest at the event. CPP placed fourth in 2022, sixth in 2021, and fourth in 2019.
- The Broncos were ranked #19 in the nation by USTFCCCA and 4th in the West Region
