X-Country men and women fare well at Big West Championships in california
In Saturday’s Big West Championship cross country meet in San Luis Obispo, Calif., the Utah State University men’s team finished second while the women finished fourth.
“Mitch Zundel went to the hospital on Saturday morning because his throat was so swollen and sore, he couldn’t breath well,” senior runner Steve Prescott said. “The doctor said he could still run, but didn’t recommend it. He almost didn’t race, but it was a good thing that he did, somehow he ended up pushing through and finished third on the team,” he said.
Prescott himself had been sick throughout the week.
Despite that, all five runners on the men’s team finished in the top 10 overall. Prescott finished third overall with a time of 26:01. Freshman Dusan Hlubocky was sixth (26:10), freshman Mike Nielson took seventh (26:11), junior Mitch Zundel was eighth (26:13) and senior Brick Bergeson came in 10th (26:30).
UC Santa-Barbara, ranked 11th in the nation, won the team competition.
Freshman Billie Winter led the USU women, finishing 16th with a time of 19:06.
Junior Melanie McClellan finished 18th with a time of 19:10. Freshman Stephanie Bierwolf finished 19th (19:12), and freshman Sharee Hatch finished 20th (19:13).
“We all stepped up for this meet on the men and women’s side,” Bierwolf said.
Both teams will now prepare for the NCAA Regional Championships held in Provo on Nov. 10.
“We are determined to go to nationals and show them what we really can do,” Prescott said.