SAN DIEGO — History was made on Saturday as freshman cross country runners Rayna Stanziano and Lucas Chung qualified for the 2020 Pan Am Cross Country Championships. Running in the U20 USATF Cross Country National Championships in Mission Bay, both needed to finish inside the top-six in order to represent the United States at the end of February. Stanziano was able to finish second place outright, while Chung finished eighth, but qualified regardless.
 
Stanziano was nearly in a class of her own during the race, finishing her 6k run in 22:47.6, good for a second-place finish overall. The only woman to finish ahead of her was Brooke Rauber from Homer, New York, who bested her by about 36 seconds (22:11.0). Stanziano finished ahead of runners from Northwestern, Utah State, and Bradley, to round out the top-five. The second-place finish for the freshman out of Concord is her best finish of her young collegiate career.
 
Chung needed a little bit of help in order to qualify for the PanAm Championships after he finished eighth overall, still a fantastic finish given the competition. During all four splits, Chung remained steadily in the eighth place position, but given that two runners who finished above him will not be competing, this bumps Chung up into the "top-six," so to speak. His time of 27:29.6 placed him in good standing, surrounded by runners from New Town, North Dakota, and Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
 
The 2020 Pan Am Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday, February 29 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Stanziano and the women will compete at 10:00 am, while Chung and the men will go at 10:40 am immediately after. Also scheduled on race day are a community race, Nations Cup, and Can Am races, to name a few.
 
No Saint Mary's Gael had ever qualified for the Pan Am Cross Country Championships until Stanziano and Chung both earned the honors on Saturday, and they were both the first Gaels to attempt the qualifying race since 2016.