SAN FRANCISCO — Weather was expected to play a part in Saturday's WCCAA meet that the Gaels participated in, hosted by San Francisco State. Fortunately, it held off for most of the day, with conditions being damp but not unraceable. There were winners, personal bests, and fast times galore for Saint Mary's, who earned second place finishes on both the men's and women's sides.
 
Dani Rowlinson was one of the headliners for Saint Mary's on Saturday, putting on a clinic in the mile run. Out of 15 runners in her heat, she beat the field by over three seconds with her time of 4:59.37. That mark is a seven-second personal best for Rowlinson, who has now finished first or second in the mile run three times this semester.
 
There were a host of Gaels in the 3000m, and the two usual suspects who entered into the heat were near the top. Rayna Stanziano finished in second place overall with her time of 9:30.30, less than one second behind Rosina Machu of Gonzaga for first place. Not far behind her was Molly Dreher, who finished fourth overall and earned a personal best with her time 9:40.49. Five other Gaels ran the 3000m on Saturday, and four of them had personal bests: Kaylee Barnes (10:16.34), Anna Ranieri (10:25.91), Emily Field (10:29.03), and Sofia Cuevas (10:29.70).
 
Other highlights from Saturday include freshman Madison Dwyer, who nearly won the 200m dash with her time of 26.98 seconds, which placed her third overall and the lone runner not from USF in the top-five. In the 400m dash, Penelopea Gordon ran her fastest time at the collegiate level with a 59.00 second time, less than half of a second off the pace for the win. All of these results helped the Gaels tie for second in team score, behind USF, and tied with Gonzaga. Saint Mary's achieved that second-place tie by finishing second in the 4x800m race at the end of the day.
 
On the men's side, it was the Gaels littering the top of the board at the 800m run, where they landed seven in the top-ten, including four in the top-six. Jason Habash was the fastest Gael of the day in the 800m, finishing with a time of 1:56.54 that landed him in second place overall. Reinder Prince was third with his time of 1:56.80, and Payton Fox finished in fourth with a 1:58.97. Noah Pagaran (1:59.78 – sixth), Eric Martinez (2:00.28 – eighth), Jacob Bravo (2:00.53 – ninth), and Raphael Lobo (2:11.23 – tenth) all finished inside the top-ten. The times for Prince and Martinez were personal bests.
 
There were also a number of Gaels who finished strong in the 3000m run, with Blaine Reynolds once again leading the way. He finished second overall with a time of 8:32.18, blowing away his personal best time by nearly 14 seconds. Richard McLain also had a great run for the Gaels, earning fourth place with his time of 8:37.06, a PR of over 10 seconds. Cayden Hein and Jackson Seubert also ran the 3000m for the first time in college, and they finished seventh and eighth, respectively with their times of 8:53.08 and 8:54.97.
 
From a team score perspective, the Gaels were able to finish in second place on the men's side. Their 4x400 relay teams helped them get there, with the team of Pagaran, Fox, Bravo, and Lobo winning the relay with a time of 3:33.43. Wisdom Thomas also became a winner on Saturday when he won the 100m dash with a time of 11.89 seconds, directly ahead of four runners from San Francisco State.
 
UP NEXT
One of the higher-profile events on the schedule takes place next weekend, as the Gaels will prepare for the Cardinal Classic, hosted by Stanford. The event runs on Saturday, March 18, beginning at 9:00 am. Last year, Rayna Stanziano set the program record for fastest 1500m time at Stanford (during the Stanford Invitational), so she has a history of running fast at the meet.