Idaho’s cross country men’s and women’s teams were divided this weekend as the women competed at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, California, while the men competed at the Inland Empire Classic in Lewiston, Idaho, Saturday.
The women were led by senior Kinsey Gomez who beat her personal record with a second-place time of 19 minutes, 56.9 seconds.
Gomez finished only two seconds behind the first-place finisher — Sacramento State’s Chloe Berlioux.
“(Gomez) ran 35 seconds faster than her personal record from the same course two years ago,” Idaho assistant coach Travis Floeck said. “I honestly wasn’t sure she could run sub-twenty yet based on what we have done in training. So that was an unreal performance, and she has a lot left in the tank which is the most exciting part.”
The women finished fourth out of 18 teams.
“We had seven out of eight women set personal bests with the eighth three seconds away from her best time,” Floeck said. “Overall I believe it was a very successful meet.”
The next Vandal to cross the finish line was junior Halie Raudenbush, who placed 14th overall with a time of 21:04.7.
“Halie ran incredibly,” Floeck said. “She was our 11th performer the first meet of the season and frankly her fitness was behind. Now her hard work and focus is paying off as she finished second for our team. She is coming on like a freight train. I wasn’t expecting a personal best from her but she delivered one.”
Finishing third for Idaho was senior Valerie Mitchell with a time of 21:10.3, placing her at 19th.
“Valerie ran her best race of her collegiate cross country career and ran very smart,” Floeck said.
Overall, Floeck said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I liked how we competed in our first big meet of the season,” he said. “It was a big field but the women weren’t intimidated. This is the test we needed before championship season. It will make us better going forward.”
In Lewiston, the men finished fourth out of the four Division I teams in competition.
“We ran tough,” Idaho coach Tim Cawley said. “I think we figured some important things out and before heading into the conference championships in two weeks that is always a good thing.”
Idaho’s first finisher was junior Nathan Stark who ran a time of 25:14, earning 31st place.
“Despite Nathan’s tough start with his shoe breaking on his first couple of steps, he recovered well and finished with a lot of heart,” Cawley said.
The next three finishers for the Vandals were Christopher Black — 61st with a time of 25:49 — freshman Skylar Ovnicek — 63rd with a time of 25:55 — and freshman Levi Wintz — 99th with a time of 26:51.
The Idaho men’s and women’s teams will compete at the Big Sky Conference Championships Oct. 31 in Cedar City, Utah.
Faith Evans can be reached at [email protected]