COLFAX, Wash. – UC San Diego cross country made their NCAA Division I postseason debut on Friday, Nov. 15. Both squads had stellar returns to the NCAA racecourse as
Sylvana Northrop led the women to a 16th place team finish and
Zeno Castiglioni led the men to a 18th place team finish.
The Triton women finished with a score of 510 points with 28-83-112-143-144 scoring. UC San Diego women finished third out of the Big west schools competing, finishing behind Cal Poly (8th) and UC Davis (11th). The Triton men finished with a total of 541 points as 77-110-117-118-119 scored. They finished fifth out of the Big West schools present.
ON THE WOMEN'S SIDE
Wrapping a career season,
Sylvana Northrop ran her best race of the season, posting a time of 20:23.4 to take 28th. The senior started out around 60th in the pack before jumping 10 spots and then moving all the way up to the top 30.
Christel Elkins led the pack behind Northrop with a time of 21:16.9 to finish 85th.
Norah Dulaney,
Kelsie Yamano, and
Stefania Sesock rounded out the top 100.
ON THE MEN'S SIDE
Zeno Castiglioni returned to the front of the pack for the Triton men as he posted the squad's top finish with a time of 30:56.1 for a 78th place finish. The senior finished in the top 80 after moving up 75 spots from the first split.
Coming across the line in a close group,
Charlie Frank,
Evan Hild,
Jordan Haney, and
Nathan Garderes rounded out the top 125.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Nate Garcia was happy with the Tritons' debut in Washington, "we had strong performances by both groups today. On the men's side we had a race plan in place that took significant trust from the guys. They bought in and saw positive results."
"Zeno returned to his leadership position moving well through the field and sliding into the top 80 by the finish line moving up 75 places from the first split. Behind him our pack running was in full effect with the next 4 guys streaming across the line within 6 seconds of each other," Garcia added.
Proud of the women's performance, he commented, "the 16th place team finish is just a little outside of what we were shooting for but was a great showing from a group of runners who were seeing the Regional Championships for the first time. We are happy to be the 3rd best Big West school out there today."
"Sylvana had another banner day putting up her best performance of the season. Starting out around 60th, Syl moved forward throughout the race kicking her way to a top 30 finish. Christel was great today putting herself in position right away and battling the whole race," he added.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
