XC | Pannu Paces Gaels At Stanford Invitational
9/30/2012 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
STANFORD, Calif. -- The Saint Mary's cross country teams competed at the prestigious Stanford Invitational today with high hopes and expectations. Once again, the Gaels had fantastic finishes and continued improving a program that still has plenty of room to grow.
Highlighting the day was junior Rajpaul Pannu, who led all WCC finishers to cross the line with yet another Saint Mary's record with an 8k time of 24:35.
"Raj put himself in a position to win the race. He was only 20 seconds or so off the leader," said associate head coach Mark Carberry. "His potential is even higher than what he displayed today and that is a very encouraging situation to be in."
The Gaels also set a new team time record with an average of 25:55 per runner, the first time in program history where the Gaels dipped under the 26 minute mark.
"It's a bittersweet feeling in the sense that we set a new team record, but there is still plenty of room to improve," added Carberry. "One of our top freshman went down early with an ankle sprain and this was also Jordan Lerma's first 8k of the season. So, the good news is we will continue to improve and raise the standard week in week out."
Standout sophomore Nick Ellingson bested his lifetime best by over half a minute to cruise to a respectable 25:33 finish. Following closely behind him were freshman David Salas and Zach Hansen who closed in 26:11 and 26:15 respectively.
Overall the Gaels placed 12th with over 30 schools representing the strong field.
On the women's side, there was a mixed bag for the very young team. Finishing first for the Gaels and setting a new lifetime best was sophomore Cristina Garcia who crossed the line with a strong 22:10, which was good for third on the schools all-time list.
Finishing fifth for the Gaels was senior captain Erin Burke, who surpassed her personal record by 31 seconds to close in 23:33. Another notable performance was by freshman Carina Novell who out kicked a few Santa Clara rivals to finish in 22:50.
"The women did well," said SMC head coach Marty Kinsey. "I think we could have done a lot better, but when you finish with the second best team time we've ever seen and you feel like the race could have been a lot better, its not always a bad thing. We have five freshman in our top eight so we expect a certain learning curve. The women will be sharp and ready to go fast in two weeks."
The Gaels train through next weekend and will compete in the Bronco Invitational, hosted by Santa Clara on October 13th.
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