SUNNYVALE— Individual athletes from both the men’s and women’s San Jose State Cross Country teams finished at the top of their races in the Santa Clara Invitational, but others struggled with unexpected setbacks.
The invitational is one of the three meets both the men’s and women’s teams compete in before the high-stakes Mountain West Conference Championships.
“If someone has a great race we say ‘let’s keep the ball rolling’ and if someone’s a little bit off we’ll sit down and try to tweak things,” cross country head coach Brad Wick said. “We’re just looking to keep testing ourselves and keep getting mentally tough.”
The Saturday morning race at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, pitted dozens of schools from across the Mountain West and other leagues against each other for a non-conference competition.
Before the Santa Clara Invitational, the teams struggled with strained muscles and sickness.
The women’s team placed fourth in a heat of 26 teams, missing third place by only three points. Senior Jennifer Sandoval won first place against 203 other runners.
“I didn’t know who I was racing with, I didn’t know if she had a good kick or not,” Sandoval said. “I just thought I’m going to push the pace and I wanted it, I wanted to get first.”
Senior Savanna Perez and sophomore Evelin Meza placed 25th and 27th, respectively. Perez said she suffered from a cold and flu during the past few weeks.
“For a runner, you can’t take any time off, so I had to train through it,” Perez said. “Training through any sickness is rough.”
Athletes and coaches stood by the trail to cheer the men’s and women’s teams on through the grueling morning.
“It’s so encouraging, obviously there’s certain points where you’re running and you’re just like I don’t know what I’m doing,” Sandoval said. “It’s really nice to have that ‘let’s go’ and it gives you the motivation to go further and faster.”
The men’s team placed 10th in a heat of 23 teams and senior José Piña found his footing and finished 3rd individually, after struggling with a tight hamstring in his past race.
The finish was a jump for Piña, who finished 12th at the Capital Cross Challenge in Sacramento.
“It was good, obviously having that setback in the other race had me feeling a little down,” Piña said. “But coming back was a big motivation for myself and the team.”
The rest of the team had a rough start after sophomore Luis Chavez got stuck in the pack at the beginning and senior Edgar Bonilla lost his shoe after being stepped on early in the race.
“It wasn’t really that bad. It kind of messed up my shin,” Bonilla said.
Treading on the course with just a sock set Bonilla back from the front pack of runners. He found his shoe and had to fight his way to a better spot for the team.
“I thought I was going to get out of the race once I had my shoe off, but I just kept going,” Bonilla said.
Chavez had to dash through a crowded flock of runners to hit his usual pace and finished 15th, which marked a setback from his fifth place finish in the Capital Cross Challenge.
“Maybe I was 50th at the mile. It was really bad,” Chavez said. “Everyone was pushing and shoving I got to the back, but I moved up well and I’m proud I didn’t give up I think I ran hard the whole way.”
Both the women’s and men’s teams race in Logan, Utah for the Mountain West Conference Championships, at the beginning of November.
After the conference championships the Spartans could compete at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Colfax, Washington, later in November, to qualify for the national NCAA Championships later that month.
“It’s anyone’s goal to try and qualify,” Piña said. “It’s definitely a different type of race once you get into the championship.”
After getting back near the top, Piña said making it to the national level could be a huge moment for San Jose State’s program.
“It’s my last year and I have nothing to lose,” Piña said. “I’m trying to do big things in running. These are my chances to surprise people, to get an eye on me and with that, put San Jose State out there.”
