Women's cross country finishes 4th

By Jeremy Herb

Santa Clara cross country returned this week from its longest road trip ever, competing at Notre Dame on Friday.

The trek halfway across the country is the first step in making Santa Clara a nationally-recognized program, according to head coach Tom Service, who hopes that he can help Santa Clara earn an NCAA Championship berth sometime in the near future.

"I think that in trying to bring the Santa Clara cross country program to more of a national prominence, you have to get exposure nationwide," he said. "We're probably still a couple years away from that, but that is our objective."

For the women's squad, the Notre Dame meet was largely successful. The team finished fourth in a field of 26 and saw the reemergence as well as breakout performance of redshirt sophomore Shannon Bell, who missed most of last season due to injury.

Bell's 12th-place finish was the Broncos' strongest showing at the meet as she reassured her team that she has recovered fully. This was Bell's first big race in well over a year.

"It was outstanding," Service said. "This was her first big invitational since her freshman year and she responded like the champion she is. I think she has a world of confidence now going into the championship part of our season."

The men's squad didn't come away from Notre Dame with quite the same satisfaction, finishing a disappointing 16th in the overall field.

"You have good days and bad, and unfortunately we all had our bad day that day," said sophomore Chris Furnari. "Without races like those, we couldn't appreciate the good races."

Assistant coach Felipe Montoro, who works primarily with the men, saw the disappointing finish as a means to improve.

"Even though they didn't do well, I think it was a really big learning experience to see what it takes to be on that level. I know they can get there eventually," he said.

Before the Notre Dame meet, however, the men had earned their first ranking in the team's history. They were ranked 14th in the West region by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association in the first poll of the season. Other schools in this region include several Pac-10 universities in addition to West Coast Conference and other University of California schools.

Freshman Chris Mulvany leads the men's squad. He ran the Broncos' quickest time at Notre Dame, finishing 47th, and has consistently put up the team's best numbers all season. However, Montoro believes Mulvany still has yet to reach his full potential.

"We knew he was one of our top recruits. He definitely hasn't disappointed at all," Montoro said. "He ran moderate-to-low mileage in high school, so any time that anyone can run as fast as he did, running as little as he did, there's a lot of room for improvement."

While Mulvany fronts a men's freshman class that has performed well, the freshman women may be even stronger.

At Notre Dame, three freshmen (Anna Wheatley, Veronica Vasquez and Noelle Lopez) helped secure the team's fourth-place finish, following Bell with the Broncos' next quickest times.

The freshman girls have been consistently near the front of the Bronco pack this season and Service is buzzing over their great potential.

"The freshman girls have just really stepped it up in several areas," he said. "We have five outstanding girls from good programs who all performed well in both cross country and track. They haven't really acted like freshmen are supposed to. They are taking the responsibility of being Top-5 runners."

For Wheatley, the move from high school to college cross country has been made easier by the team's coaches and upperclassmen.

"We have one senior and a couple of the juniors who are there to act as the leaders," she said. "The girls on the team have made it really easy to transition."

The strong freshman class may be the first step in establishing Santa Clara as a strong, nationally-recognized cross country program. According to Service, the Broncos' freshmen still have potential that remains untapped.

"I don't even think we'll enjoy the measure of their success this year," he said. "They're probably a year away from really getting big time because most of them came from pretty lower mileage programs, and we didn't want the transition to college to be too drastic on them."

The implementation of the Bronco track team has also helped to legitimize Santa Clara's distance program. Before last season, Bronco track runners were not eligible for NCAA Divison I postseason races because Santa Clara did not have an official track team. That is no longer the case, as track was instituted in the spring.

"I'd always maintained that serious distance runners who were really dedicated and focused did not really want to come to a university that did not have an official track team," Service said. "It brought a real legitimacy to the team as a Division I distance program."

The Broncos host the Santa Clara Invitational on Oct. 15. The meet has taken the place of the Bronco Invitational, which Santa Clara did not host this year.

Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 551-1918 or at jmherb@scu.edu.