Mustangs grab conference men’s and women’s championships for first time since 2018 and sixth overall; Ritter becomes only three-time male winner and Weidler is first female from UC Davis to capture individual crown since 2009 

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

RIVERSIDE – The Cal Poly cross country teams swept to Big West championships Saturday, re-establishing the Mustangs as the top program in the conference, achieving the feat in the first season under the direction of coach Ryan Vanhoy.

In a performance that was eerily similar to Friday’s Pac-12 Finals on the same UC Riverside Ag-Ops course, Cal Poly’s men dominated, with the women winning in a thrilling, close finish that for a while seemed like could be anyone’s game.

It resulted in Cal Poly sweeping both titles for the first time since 2018 and the sixth occasion in program history.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

The Mustangs ran away with the men’s championship, tallying 22 points to second-place UC Santa Barbara’s 67 and third-place UC Riverside’s 70. 

Senior Jake Ritter topped the field for his third individual title on the 8-kilometer course in 23 minutes, 27.4 seconds, while leading his team to a 1-2-3-6-10 finish.

Ritter became the first three-time men’s champion in conference history, with the first championship held in 1969.

On the women’s side, Cal Poly needed every point to outlast an inspiring performance by UC Irvine by a 63-64 margin.

UC Davis sophomore Brianna Weidler outkicked Long Beach State sophomore Allie Scimia for the individual win in 19:28.6 in a clash of student-athletes with local connections Riverside, with Weidler attending Great Oak High in Temecula and Scimia (19:49.0) graduating from Rancho Cucamonga.

Cal Poly claimed its 18th Big West men’s championship since 1998, but secured its first win in four years. That included a second-place finish to UC Santa Barbara last year, a loss that had not been forgotten.

“I think that, from the beginning of the season, we were looking for that title this year,” said junior William Fallini-Haas, the runner-up Saturday in 23:41.9 after finishing third a year ago.

“So we just trained super hard and got to that level.”

Something the Mustangs did from the beginning Saturday was dominating by getting out to a quick start and taking control of the race. At the 4-kilometer mark they actually had five of the top six places and were sitting at 16 points.

Ritter followed up on wins in 2018 and 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season; in 2021, he ran just a few races due to injury.

Ritter said he feels everything with Cal Poly’s men, ranked No. 8 in the NCAA Division 1 West region, is coming together.

Cal Poly sophomore Aidan McCarthy was third in 23:46.4, followed by sophomore Anthony Guerra in sixth in 23:53.3 and junior John Bennett in 10th in 24:02.9.

UC Santa Barbara settled for second as a team. Freshman Ethan Godsey led the Gauchos with a fourth-place finish in 23:47.1. Junior Augustus Marshall was ninth in 24:02.7.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys and we’ve been battling a lot of sickness throughout the year,” Godsey said. “So for all of us to put it together at the conference meet was something to be proud of, for sure.”

UC Riverside’s men turned in the team’s best performance since 2014 by finishing third. The Highlanders also took third in 2007 and 2008 and produced their best finish by taking second in 2010.

Sophomore Aiden Davis placed eighth in 24:02.6, freshman Tyler Kaan was 11th in 24:10.3.

Junior Alexis Garcia led Cal State Fullerton to a fourth-place team finish by placing fifth in 23:49.4. Garcia ran hard and with aggression, getting as high as second about halfway into the race.

UC Irvine sophomore Lukas Amare placed seventh in 23:56.0.

Cal Poly’s women had to rally to win their eighth title, as they didn’t lead at a split until the finish. Sophomore Julia Heckey was third in 19:50.2, and senior Sydnie Rivas took 12th in 20:34.5, with all five Cal Poly scorers placing inside the top 19.

“I feel like everyone on our team had a really good race,” Heckey said. “We’ve been losing by a point all season, so we were super happy to be on the other side.”

Weidler ran a tactical race, running in the front and making a move at 4 kilometers to take control in the final mile.

“I didn’t really have much of an expectation for this race,” Weidler said. “I just wanted to kind of zone out and stick with the front group and see where that took me. I just wanted to stick with the first three girls. I just wanted to zone out and check my body where it’s at about 3 or 4K, and trust my gut and go with that.”

She won in a quasi-homecoming. Weidler ran at national-power Great Oak and actually spent time as a child living in Riverside.

With the Wolfpack, she persisted during her four years, withstanding elite competition to hold her varsity spot.

Clearly, that toughness paid off Saturday, a quality that was also present in UC Davis’ last women’s individual champion Sarah Sumpter in 2009.

“It means a lot to me,” Weidler said. “Like (former Great Oak coach Doug Soles’) training prepared me, and the coaching here at Davis is so amazing and I really trust it. Just going with that, it’s a lot of fun seeing how consistency pays off.”

UC Davis, the defending champ, also got a fourth-place finish from junior Sierra Atkins (19:50.3) and placed third as a team. While some observers thought the Aggies would be the toughest competition for Cal Poly on Saturday, UC Irvine had other ideas.

Placing four runners in the top 11, UC Irvine nearly pulled an upset and almost secured its first conference title since 2005, but earned runner-up for the first time in 14 years.

Sophomores Anna Vogtmann (fifth, 19:52.8) and Sameen Andar (sixth, 19:57.6), along with senior Hannah Chau (seventh, 20:01.0), gave the Anteaters three scorers in the top 10. Senior Evelin Meza was 11th in 20:28.7.

The performance nearly brought Chau, the longtime women’s leader at UC Irvine, to tears. She was running in her final Big West race.

“I think it’s going to be so much progress,” Chau said, “that I can leave and I know they’re going to keep on bringing down the times. ... but I’m just really proud of this team and I can’t wait to see what they can do.”

McKaylie Caesar led Cal State Fullerton’s fourth-place showing by placing eighth in 20:05.3.

Long Beach State senior Ryley Fick was ninth in 20:13.2, and UC Riverside sophomore Collette Lowengrub was 10th in 20:18.0.