MORAGA, Calif. – Coming off the heels of another exciting season in both cross country and track & field, it's been announced by Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Matoso that Head Coach Marty Kinsey will lead the programs for another five years.
 
Kinsey has taken the running programs at SMC to new heights since he joined 13 years ago. He was the first full-time coach to ever be hired for the XC and track & field programs at Saint Mary's, and he's been able to develop and push his runners to be the best they can be ever since. 
 
Kinsey has built the program from the ground up, always pushing to make the program better. In 2012 Kinsey was able to get the track team Division I status, and hired his first full-time assistant coach the same season. In 2022, Kinsey instituted indoor track to the schedule, allowing his runners to compete in new disciplines before the outdoor track season fully begun. 
 
Since 2016, six runners have represented SMC at the Track or NCAA Division I Championships over a wide variety of disciplines. Kinsey has not only overseen success on the track, but in the classroom as well. SMC runners have picked up numerous accolades since Kinsey became coach, including National USTFCCCA honors, WCC honors, Highest GPA honors at Saint Mary's, Highest number of Presidential scholar recipients, and more. 
 
Every year the teams grow in size, as this past season included 34 members each on the men's and women's side. This allowed the coaching duties to be split, with Kinsey taking over the women's side and Harlan Lopez earning a promotion to men's head coach. 
 
Kinsey has also facilitated numerous fundraising efforts, including his wildly popular Texas Hold 'Em poker night at the start of each season. With the poker night and other efforts, he's help raise over $70k for both the men's and women's programs at SMC. 
 
This past season was full of highlights for the XC and Track & Field teams, as numerous runners continued to push the envelope for what's possible for Saint Mary's running.
 
In cross country, Rayna Stanziano once again showed her dominance, besting her own 6K school record two separate times. The first came at the WCC Championships in October, where Stanziano finished 8^th in a time of 20:23.0. She then one upped herself once more, smashing her personal best at the NCAA West Region Championships where she finished 16^th in a time of 19:43.6. 
 
Her stellar run is the highest finish ever by a Gael at NCAA West Regionals, and nine spots higher than she finished last season. With her finish, she earned her second consecutive NCAA All-West Region Honors.
 
On the track, freshman Penelopea Gordon exploded onto the scene, competing at the NCAA First Round in the 800m. 
 
The Rochester, Minnesota native became the first freshman Gael in program history to qualify for the NCAA West First Round, doing so in the 800m.
 
Gordon's stock has been on the rise since early in the season, when she finished seventh overall in the 600m at the UW Preview indoor meet on January 14. Since then, her times keep dropping, and her finishes keep improving. She first ran the 800m as a Gael at the Mike Fanelli Classic and posted a time of 2:17.32. Over her last three attempts, however, she has shaved over 10 seconds off that time, culminating in a 2:07.27 at the Portland Distance Carnival last weekend. That time is the second-fastest 800m time in Saint Mary's history, and she finished third in the event behind an Olympic bronze medalist and an All-American.
 
With rapid improvement and a personal best time that lands her inside the top-20 fastest freshman in the country, Gordon will surely be back to break more records when the track season begins once again next spring.
 
KINSEY QUOTES
"I am very grateful for the opportunities Saint Mary's, Mike Matoso and Kami Gray have provided me and our student-athletes. The rapid growth of the programs have been everything I could have hoped for and it's due to their full support of our student-athletes." 
 
"Saint Mary's is a special place for me and I'm excited to get to work on this next chapter! With the increases in scholarship, budget, coaching staff, roster sizes, adding Indoor Track and so on- the future is very bright. The five years was a request I made because we are currently recruiting a fantastic junior class and this contract will take me through their entire 4 years while at Saint Mary's."