SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The Saint Mary's men's and women's cross country teams began their new season at the University of San Francisco Invitational at Golden Gate Park Saturday morning. In his first race for the Gaels, Sam Tyas led the way for the Gaels, finishing seventh in the 8K helping the men team's finish in fourth place overall, The women's team, led by Rayna Stanziano, finished 6^th overall.
 
MEN'S TEAM SET THE TONE
The men's 8k race began the proceedings in Golden Gate Park with Saint Mary's finishing fourth overall out of 14 teams. The Gaels had three runners inside the top 25 through the 6K averaging a 12:33 time. Tyas ran a solid race throughout, finishing 7^th overall in a time of 25:12.3. He was closely followed by his teammate Blaine Reynolds, who finished 10^th in a time 25:18.5. Sophomore Curtis Volf ran his personal best for the Gaels as well, finishing 26^th in a time of 25:48.12. 
 
Saint Mary's finished with a total score of 110, just nine points behind meet hosts USF. The Stanford men won the meet 70 points, while California and San Francisco round out the podium with 80 and 101 points respectively.
 
JUST ON THE OUTSIDE
Rayna Stanziano ran a composed race, finishing 11^th in the women's 6K race in a time of 21:35.8. After the 2K, Stanziano was sitting in 23^rd, but she quickly began to pick her way through the field, moving up 10 positions by the time she reached the 4K mark. The junior continued to move up over the last 2K of the race, eventually settling in 11^th place, just a half a second outside of the top ten. Stanziano's Gaels teammates ran solid races as well, with Molly Dreher finishing 27^th in a time of 22:13.7. Sophomore Klara Frih finished 47^th in a 23:00.6, a personal best in the 6K by over a minute.
 
The women's side finished in 6^th overall with 153 total points and a time of 1:53.24. The Stanford women took home the win with 21 total points, as San Francisco and Stanislaus State complete the top three with 87 and 104 points.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's has four more races on deck for September, including one this upcoming Friday. The women's team will head down south for the South Bay Twilight Race on September 9, and both teams will compete at the Santa Clara Duel on September 16.