By Megan Sanders, Aug 26, 2025
The Cal Poly Pomona men’s and women’s cross-country teams are running with returners this season with hopes to be two of the top teams in the country.
According to head coach Chris Bradford, with both the men and women having solid experienced runners, the goal is to not have the coaches rely too heavily on the freshmen this season, allowing them to build and gain college level experience.
A new NCAA rule that allows first-year athletes to compete in up to 30% of their team’s competitions without losing a year of eligibility will potentially allow the incoming freshmen a taste of what it’s like to race at the college level.
The men’s team added seven new runners to its roster over the summer, five being freshmen and the other two transfers.
The women’s team added nine new runners – eight freshmen and one transfer.
Bradford added, the plan this season is for the travel teams to be made mostly of runners who have experience running at the regional and national levels. Daniel Echeveste, Tom McDonnell, Ricardo Vargas and Francisco Zavaleta were some of the men he mentioned. Galilea Jimenez, Jade Kingston, Miranda Palacios and Vivian Martinez were the highlighted women.
The women’s team finished in 11th place at NCAA West Regionals last year, and the men’s team finished in fourth, earning them a spot in nationals where they placed 21st.
The teams hope to take the next step this year to become contenders for the national championship titles.
According to coach Bradford, the teams this season have lots of depth, and the leaders of the groups have been interchangeable with how close everyone’s times have been during track season and the last cross-country season.
“I just want us to keep growing and keep building on what we’ve been in the past because if we do that, I think we’ll be in a great spot,” Bradford said.
The Broncos will be making their way to Wisconsin Sept. 27 to race at the Lucian Rosa Invitational. This will be the same course the NCAA Championship will be run on, giving the teams a sneak peek of what to expect in November.
According to the men’s team captain Daniel Echeveste, a fifth year, the team is really looking forward to racing in the championship races because they know that it matters the most.
“I just want it to be memorable and something to look at and say, ‘I did all I could, and I’m proud of what I did these last five years,’” Echeveste said.
With associate head coach Wes Ashford knowing what the returners are capable of, he has made some changes to the teams’ summer training, including higher mileage and the addition of double threshold workout days, which consists of running two workouts in one day. The top men are maxing out their mileage at around 100 miles a week, and the top women are hitting around 80 miles a week.
Bradford mentioned Chico State University is one of the team’s biggest competitions this season on the men’s side and Stanislaus State University on the women’s side. Chico State has claimed the NCAA West Regionals title the past eight seasons on the men’s side, the Stanislaus State women placed 5th last year in the regionals meet.
The Women’s team captain, senior Vivian Martinez, knows the women are going to have to work together to achieve their goals to be in the mix with the top schools this year.
“I feel like occasionally some of us have felt alone, so this year definitely our main priorities are having that feeling in races where we are doing it for each other and not just because we’re there by ourselves,” Martinez said.
The men and women will test their speed with a team time trial at the Jim Sackett Run, where they will be able to get back into racing mode in preparation for the season start Sept. 13 at the Cougar Challenge in San Marcos.
Feature image courtesy of Megan Sanders
