SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona men's cross country team won their first race of the 2024 season on Saturday morning in convincing fashion, with all seven Broncos finishing in the Top 10 of the race. The team finished with a final score of 18 and an average time of 25:36 in the 8K race, 49 seconds faster than the next closest school.
 
Evan Franco took home individual champion honors with a time of 25:21.6 and averaging 5:06.1 per mile, the best in the field of 60 runners. This was Franco's second-fastest career time in the 8K, having run a 25:13.1 at the John Elders Titan Invite back in 2022.
 
All seven Broncos in the race finished in the Top 10, including Leandro Candray (2^nd), Ethan Romero (4^th), and Chris Razo (5^th) also placing in the top five. Romero, a redshirt freshman, impressed in his first collegiate race with a time of 25:38.1 and an average mile of 5:09.4.
 
Race Results
1. Evan Franco – 25:21.6
2. Leandro Candray – 25:25.8
4. Ethan Romero – 25:38.1
5. Chris Razo – 25:41.7
6. Juan Ramos – 25:56.1
7. James Guerrero – 26:03.1
9. David Flores – 26:16.8
 
Up Next
The Broncos will race at the UCR Ag Ops Course in the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, September 21st.
 
Bronco Bits

• This is the third straight year where the Broncos have won their first race of the season.
• Saturday's performance was the 41^st team win in program history.
• CPP's 18 points on Saturday was just the 8^th time in program history where the team scored under 20 points.
• This was the Broncos' third time winning the Coyote Challenge, doing so in both 2014 and 2018. In 2014, they tied a program record with just 15 points in the race while taking the title.