By Megan Sanders, September 30, 2025
The Cal Poly Pomona men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in the Master’s Invitational Sept. 20, where the men’s team took home fourth place and the women’s team finished in ninth.
According to head coach Chris Bradford, both teams used this meet as a chance to race its freshmen and non-travel squads, giving the travel teams a chance to rest and prepare for a race in Wisconsin Sept. 27.
“The future’s bright,” Bradford said. “Shows kind of the depth that we have on both sides, men and women, and that they can run with a lot of these other programs who are running their full squads at this meet.”
Six runners on CPP men’s team placed in the top 50, two of which were in the top 20.
Red-shirted freshman Nathaniel Sackett led CPP by finishing in 16th place with an overall time of 25:19, his personal record in the 8K.
According to Sackett, he hopes to sneak his way onto the conference team this year after racing in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational Oct. 4.
“We have a crazy good depth this year,” Sackett said. “Training is always having someone next to you and someone to push you, so it’s been going well.”
CPP freshman Luke D’Elia also had an impressive showing, as he finished shortly behind Sackett in 20th place with a time of 25:33.
Freshman Jubilee Cisneros led the CPP women’s team in her first collegiate race by securing 50th place with a time of 23:45 in the 5K.
According to Cisneros, who is going to red shirt this season, having the opportunity to be the top scorer for CPP in her first collegiate race was a great feeling.
“I am grateful for my teammates and coaches,” Cisneros said. “They’ve really made this beginning of training and college running and competing really enjoyable.”
The women’s team had five of its runners placed in the top 100.
Freshman Ava Holtzen came in 59th place, just 13 seconds behind Cisneros.
The CPP travel team, consisting of the top runners, will tackle a sneak peek of the NCAA Championship course at the Lucian Rosa Invitational Sept. 27.
Bradford mentioned the teams plan to race full squads in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational Oct. 4 to give the newcomers another opportunity to race alongside the upperclassmen this season.
Feature image courtesy of the CPP Athletics
