The 4-time defending national champion Clansmen looked every bit the top-ranked team as they pulled away from Azusa Pacific to win the team race with a low of 35 points. The cougars were second with 58.
Azusa Pacific held a brief lead after 2 runners, but Simon Fraser’s strength from the No. 3 through 5 runners overwhelmed the Cougars, tallying just 29 points as compared to 53 for the Cougar trio.
“Simon Fraser is just deeper than we are right now,” said third-year Cougar coach Preston Grey. “They have us pretty good, but we got out there and made them work. We pushed Simon Fraser.”
For the first time this season, freshman Jacky Kipwambok paced the Cougar women, finishing second out of the 105-runner field with a 4K time of 14:07. All-American junior Jaime Canterbury was third with a 14:12.
“Jacky just keeps getting more and more fit, and it showed,” said Grey. “She not as strong as Jaime yet, but her fitness allowed her to pull away on a flat course like that at Stanford.”
Senior Olivia Richert was 12th with a 15:04 while junior Rebecca Reyes was 15th at 15:21. Junior Sara Ireland followed in 26th with a 15:58.
“This is the first 4K we’ve run in 3 years and we were 10 seconds faster per girl this time at Stanford than we were in 2004,” said Grey, “so I think that’s a good measuring stick for us.”
The Cougar men ran a conventional 8K race and finished eighth out of a field of 23 teams at the Stanford Invitational.
As usual, junior Aron Rono paced the Cougars, finishing second overall, first among the team competitors, with a 23:13 on the relatively easy Stanford course. Sophomore Forrest Lewton was 60th overall with a season-best 25:35 while sophomore Caleb Mesa followed at 68th with a 25:41.
“We didn’t have a great performance on the men’s side,” said Grey. “However, we were just 5 points behind Arizona so I guess we wouldn’t finish last in the Pac-10.
Freshman Rocky Richardson was 70th at 25:43 and senior Caleb Lynch clocked a 26:14 to finish 109th.
“Forrest is coming around for us,” said Grey. “All the summer work is paying off for him. Caleb went out conversative and then came on strong at the end. He’s a little banged up but he is coming around.”
Azusa Pacific takes the next 2 weeks off and returns to competition at the 22nd annual Golden State Athletic Conference championship meet Saturday, Oct. 20, at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa, Calif.
