By Karina Perez, Sept. 10, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona’s men and women’s cross-country teams focus on adapting the right mindset heading into their season opener at Cal State San Bernardino Saturday, Sept. 7.
The California Collegiate Athletics Association announced their preseason polls with both CPP cross-country teams making the top three behind CCAA defending champions Chico State.
The men’s team received a No. 2 ranking with a score of 72 and were ranked No. 22 in the United States Track and Field Cross Country Association polls that dropped earlier this week. The women’s team was ranked No. 3 with a score of 102 points.
The men’s team had five student-athletes named to the CCAA watchlist: senior Leandro Candray, senior Daniel Echeveste, junior Thomas Mcdonnell, junior Ricardo Vargas, senior Francisco Zavaleta.
“[The watchlist…] the best finishers of the previous year…building off what they did in the past, more mentally tough as we get into some high end races this year” head coach of men and women’s cross-country Chris Bradford said.
Candray competed in seven races last season with a personal best fourth-place finish at the second annual Seawolf invite, recording a time of 20:17.3 in the 4M and a PR at the 42nd Annual UCR Cross Country Invitational in the 8k with a time of 24:14.1 to finish in 26th place.
“I definitely want to go for individual championship at conference and somewhere around the top three for regionals,” Candray said.
Candray said that although many teammates graduated last year, he remains optimistic about his team’s success in the upcoming season.
“This is probably the most that we’ve come this close together; we practiced at altitude for six weeks together, the longest we’ve ever done so far…we still have the strength of a young and eager team,” Candray said.
Junior Vivian Martinez was named to the CCAA watchlist for the women’s team, following All-CCAA honors and an eighth-place finish at the conference championship last season.
Martinez shared that last season the women’s team ranked third place in conference, only two points away from second place, and finished in sixth place at regionals.
“It’s crazy because every year we’ve improved from the year before, so we had one of our greatest performances last year and we’re waiting to top that this year,” Martinez said.
She received All-CCAA honors for an eighth-place finish out of 91 runners with a time of 21:42.5 to mark a personal best for the 6k at the CCAA champions. She competed at the Seawolf Invite, finishing ninth with a time of 19:13.7 and reached the NCAA Division II West Region Cross Country Championships, placing 28th with a finished time of 21:51.8.
“Once I get to conference, I want to keep that top 10 spot–regionals getting top 25…I got 28th last year so that regional spot this year would be great,” Martinez said.
In terms of individual goals, Martinez plans to keep that momentum and improve with every race.
Coach Bradford shared his excitement for this year with his team.
“We had really high expectations going into last year,” Bradford said. “With cross country the low score wins so our men had the lowest score in over 25 years and the women had the lowest score in team history at conference championships.”
The men’s team aims to reach their 24th NCAA championship, following a 23rd place finish last year, while the women’s team looks to reach the program’s first NCAA Championship since 2019.
The Broncos will compete at the CCAA Championships Oct. 25 in Fresno, California leading up to the West Regional NCAA Championship Nov. 23 in Sacramento.
The team shared there’s a lot riding on them this year with multiple goals and accomplishments already taking place this season. Their first race against Cal State San Bernardino will play a huge factor on how the season will go for both teams.
Photo courtesy of CPP Athletics
