Saturday, October 14
Sunnyvale, Calif.
8:45 a.m.
California State University at Northridge
at
Santa Clara Bronco Invitational
Photo by: Connor Clark
CSUN Posts Top School Performances at Santa Clara Bronco Invitational
10/14/2023 1:45:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
SUNNYVALE, Calif.---The CSUN men's and women's cross country teams wrapped up the regular season with a strong performance at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational. Five Matadors cracked the school's top-10 leader board as both squads improved their team times from last year's performance at Santa Clara.Â
WOMEN
In her first race with CSUN, sophomore Unique Ford led the women's team by collecting 27th-place points (30th overall) by running a personal-best time of 21:03.2. Ford's run time is the third-fastest in the CSUN record book for 6k races. The CSUN women improved its time from its showing at last year's event, posting a team time of 1:49.19.10 (recorded 1:54:34.20 last year).
CSUN WOMEN PERFORMANCES
UNIQUE FORD ON TODAY'S PERFORMANCE
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MEN
Junior Daniel Rodriguez topped the Matadors on the men's team, earning 39th-place points (44th overall) with a personal record 8k time of 24:33.7. Rodriguez's time is the fifth-fastest 8k time in the school's record book. As a team, CSUN improved its team time to 2:04:34.50 from last year's mark at the same event (2:05.02.50).
CSUN MEN PERFORMANCES
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ ON TODAY'S PERFORMANCE
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ACCORDING TO COACH DEVIN ELIZONDO
"We return to Northridge from our Bay Area competition with several personal bests and a great team performance from both women's and men's squads. We had new leaders emerge which means we are getting great contributions from everyone involved and now we can rely on these performers to be fixtures at the front of our packs. A year ago, we only had female performer under the 22-minute mark, and today we had four with Unique Ford very close to breaking 21 minutes. We celebrate improvement in this program. The men also ran their best team race to date. Daniel Rodriguez led from the front and created opportunities for our top pack to trust the pace and float through the first four miles together.
We are starting to put the piece together at the right time toward our goals for a great Big West championship run."
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UP NEXT
CSUN sets its sights on The Big West Championship on Friday, Oct. 27. Cal Poly will host the event at the Blacklake Golf Resort. The men's race will begin at 8:30 a.m. while the women will begin at 9:15 a.m.
#GoMatadors
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WOMEN
In her first race with CSUN, sophomore Unique Ford led the women's team by collecting 27th-place points (30th overall) by running a personal-best time of 21:03.2. Ford's run time is the third-fastest in the CSUN record book for 6k races. The CSUN women improved its time from its showing at last year's event, posting a team time of 1:49.19.10 (recorded 1:54:34.20 last year).
CSUN WOMEN PERFORMANCES
- Nicole Contreras charted 60th-place points (64th overall) with a time of 21:39.2, narrowly missing her personal record she set on Sept. 16. Conteras' time is the seventh fastest in school's record book.
- Elin Markarian scored 71st-place points (76th overall) by running a personal-best time of 21.51.9. Her time also cracked the school's top-10 6k marks as her time is the eighth-best at CSUN.
- Sonia Avila set new personal record time of 21.59.7 after scoring 83rd-place points (88th overall).
- Leann Hamilton charted 112th-place points (133rd overall) with a time of 22:45.1.
- Vanessa Avila scored 113th-place points (135th overall) by running a time 22:46.6.
- Faith Mora registered 123rd-place points (151st overall) with a time of 23:09.7.
- Other CSUN runners included Mariah Changco (23:16.3, 153rd overall), Rachael Simpson (23:32.3, 160th overall) and Ouanessa Nana (25:09.3, 180th overall).
UNIQUE FORD ON TODAY'S PERFORMANCE
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Unique Ford on her first race with #CSUN today#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/XTcrS7bQG0
— CSUN Track & Field & Cross Country (@CSUNTFXC) October 14, 2023
MEN
Junior Daniel Rodriguez topped the Matadors on the men's team, earning 39th-place points (44th overall) with a personal record 8k time of 24:33.7. Rodriguez's time is the fifth-fastest 8k time in the school's record book. As a team, CSUN improved its team time to 2:04:34.50 from last year's mark at the same event (2:05.02.50).
CSUN MEN PERFORMANCES
- Noah Contreras collected 50th-place points (57th overall) with a time of 24:43.8. Conteras, who has third-fastet 8k time at CSUN set in 2021, posted the seventh-best mark on Saturday.
- Atticus Hall scored 64th-place points (74th overall) with a time of 25:03.6.
- Cesar Cuevas recorded 66th-place points (77th overall) with a time of 25:06.2 while Yaseen Sardar was right behind at 67th-place points (78th overall) and a time of 25:07.2.
- Ramiro Mateos charted 78th-place points (93rd overall) with a time of 25:22.3.
- Camilo Torres posted 80th-place points (99th overall) by running a time of 25:31.8.
- Other CSUN runners included Kai Smith (25:35.7, 105th overall), Balmore Montes (26:22.7, 130th overall), James Moore (26:26.2, 131st overall)
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ ON TODAY'S PERFORMANCE
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Daniel Rodriguez on his performance and leading the team today#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/7VaAj9SvSr— CSUN Track & Field & Cross Country (@CSUNTFXC) October 14, 2023
ACCORDING TO COACH DEVIN ELIZONDO
"We return to Northridge from our Bay Area competition with several personal bests and a great team performance from both women's and men's squads. We had new leaders emerge which means we are getting great contributions from everyone involved and now we can rely on these performers to be fixtures at the front of our packs. A year ago, we only had female performer under the 22-minute mark, and today we had four with Unique Ford very close to breaking 21 minutes. We celebrate improvement in this program. The men also ran their best team race to date. Daniel Rodriguez led from the front and created opportunities for our top pack to trust the pace and float through the first four miles together.
We are starting to put the piece together at the right time toward our goals for a great Big West championship run."
Â
Coach Devin Elizondo on today strong performance at the Santa Clara Bronco Invite#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/YvnTedLUnc
— CSUN Track & Field & Cross Country (@CSUNTFXC) October 14, 2023
UP NEXT
CSUN sets its sights on The Big West Championship on Friday, Oct. 27. Cal Poly will host the event at the Blacklake Golf Resort. The men's race will begin at 8:30 a.m. while the women will begin at 9:15 a.m.
#GoMatadors
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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