XC | Men Fifth, Women Sixth at WCC Championship

Friday, October 29

Concord, CA

10:00 am

Saint Mary's College of California

West Coast Conference Championship

Photo by: SMC Athletics / Brian Brownfield

XC | Men Fifth, Women Sixth at WCC Championship

10/29/2021 2:10:00 PM | Cross Country

Photo Gallery

CONCORD, Calif. — Serving as hosts of the 2021 WCC Championship, Saint Mary's Cross Country came in with a home-course advantage. The Gaels have practiced and worked out on this course several times, creating a unique situation when running the 6k and 8k race. Using that to their advantage, several Gaels posted strong times under the warm early-morning sun, leading to a fifth-place finish for the men and a sixth-place finish for the women.

DOZIER DARTS
In a crowded field with four BYU runners at the top, Nolan Dozier was able to push his way through to the top of the pack to pace SMC. He was one of 13 runners on Friday who finished the 8k race in under 24 minutes, ending up with a time of 23:59.2. This marked the second-straight finish with a sub-24 time for the Morgan Hill native, who placed 13^th overall in the WCC Championship. At the first kilometer, Dozier was back in 22^nd, but worked his way up to ninth by the 5k-mark. For comparison, Dozier finished in 40^th place in February at the 2020 WCC Championship. This earned Dozier All-WCC Second Team honors for the first time in his decorated career.

MEN CLIMB
Moses Bojorquez has been running with Dozier all season long, and he finished second among the Gaels on Friday morning in Concord. Bojorquez was good for 33^rd overall with a time of 24:46, playing an integral part in Saint Mary's finishing fifth overall on the men's side. Lucas Chung got up to 43^rd overall with his 25:21.4, while Sebastian Andersson found his stride late in the race to move up about 10 spots to land in 46^th with a time of 25:28.6. Chandler Maciel was his running mate, finishing just behind him in 48^th with a time of 25:30.9.

JUST ON THE OUTSIDE
Expectations were high for the Gaels top runner on the women's side, Rayna Stanziano. Throughout Friday's championship race, she found herself in the front pack, contending for the lead. As the temperature started to climb, her pace fell off a bit and she wound up finishing the 6k race in 21^st overall with a time of 21:27.6. She wound up finishing just six spots shy of her first All-WCC appearance, but she made quite the mark during the early portions of the race, where she was as high as eighth place at the halfway mark.

OH SO CLOSE!
The Gaels have been chasing Santa Clara all season long as a team they had a real chance to beat, and they nearly knocked them off on Friday. Finishing in sixth overall at the WCC Championship, the Gaels were just three total spots behind the Broncos for fifth, indicating that significant progress was made. Molly Dreher and Sylvia Ingram have been running in packs all season long, and they were again on Friday, finishing side-by-side in 34^th and 35^th with times of 22:16.6 and 22:18.5. Dani Rowlinson was the next-fastest runner for the Gaels with a time of 22:46.1, good for 48^th overall in her first WCC Championship. Alize Hartke rounded out the scorers for the Gaels with a 22:52.6, which placed her in 50^th.

AROUND THE WCC
BYU won team and individual titles on both sides, finishing above Gonzaga on both the men's and women's sides. Whittni Orton nearly finished the 6k race in under 20 minutes with a time of 20:01 to win the individual title, while Conner Mantz claimed another men's title with his 23:01 finish. BYU, Gonzaga, and Portland were the top-three in both races. Laura Pellicoro of Portland was named the WCC Freshman of the Year for the women, and Lucas Bons of BYU took home the award on the men's side.

KINSEY QUOTES
"The teams ran very well today. It was awesome to host the conference championship and it was really great to see the student-athletes work so hard to be successful. I'm looking forward to regionals. We should be able to carry this momentum to program-best finishes in two weeks' time." – head coach, Marty Kinsey

UP NEXT
The Gaels will have two weeks to rest up before the NCAA West Regionals, where Saint Mary's will look to send runners to the NCAA Championship. November 12 is the scheduled date for the West Regional, where the Gaels will face the top competition from their region, which does not include BYU.

#GaelsRise