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Women's Cross Country

Lions Notch Six PRs in Competitive Northern California Field

SUNNYVALE, CA. — In their final regular-season meet before championship racing begins, the Lions delivered another strong performance, finishing 9th out of 16 teams at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday, October 18 at Baylands Park. 

"Coming into this meet we were looking forward to testing ourselves against many of the teams we'll face at WCCs in a few weeks," said Head Coach Chloe Curtis. The meet, hosted by Santa Clara, featured five West Coast Conference opponents, with LMU finishing ahead of three of them.

In a race that rewarded patience and toughness, six Lions recorded new personal bests, and the squad continued the pack running that has come to define their season. "We knew that if we could get an aggressive start, and work together in packs to move up in the second half, that we'd come away with a strong result," said Curtis. 

Junior Ava Boyd (Longmont, CO) earned Lion of the Meet honors as voted by her teammates after finishing 4th for LMU and 50th overall in a time of 21:54.7, continuing her season of reliability and consistency.

Hayden Washington (Valencia, CA) once again led the way, placing 29th overall with a time of 21:30.2, followed by junior Rylee Guinn (Brentwood, CA) in 21:43.6 and junior Tessa Kline (Springfield, MA) in 21:52.6, who improved 55 seconds from the Master's Invite en route to a new PR. "Our duos up front of Hayden and Rylee, and Ava and Tessa have been awesome this season, pulling each other along through sections of the race," said Curtis. "To have our top four in the top 50 of this competitive field is huge"

Meanwhile Alex Zanon (Campbell, CA) claimed the final spot in the scoring five, turning in another solid effort with her time of 22:34.7. "Alex did a great job of leading a pack of Lions through the first two miles," said Curtis. "She has stepped up tremendously for us as a consistent 5th scorer." Zanon, who raced this course last year with the University of Hawaiʻi before transferring to the Bluff, crossed the line more than two minutes faster as a Lion. 

Closing out the top seven were freshman Collette Heil (Nahant, MA) and senior Samantha Duwe (Oak Park, IL) in times of 22:56.7 and 22:57.2 respectively. Heil matched her PR set in the first meet of the season, while Duwe shaved 43 seconds off her personal best. The biggest improvement of the day, however, came from junior Emma Ronan (Northbridge, MA), who slashed 66 seconds off her previous best for the 6k distance in a time of 22:58.4. 

"Samantha and Emma are coming on strong right when we need them to as we head into championship season." She also praised Heil, the freshman out of Massachusetts for her continued consistency and "race savviness," which she noted has stood out all fall.

Next for the team was freshman Kailey O'Brien (Elkhorn, NE.) in a time of 23:20.4  And making her return to competition for the Lions was junior Elisa Ramirez (Culver City, CA), who missed nearly all of her freshman season and all of her sophomore year. Her race, in which Ramirez clocked a personal best of 24:20.7, marked the completion of a long recovery from a hip injury. "I'm so happy to see Elisa back out on the course after battling back from injury," said Curtis. 

Just ahead of Ramirez was a pair of Lions in Anna Bridges (Denver, CO) and Kelsey Calhoun (Colorado Springs, CO) who finished 10th and 11th for the team in times of 24:02.9 and 24:13.0. 

The Lions will return to action at the West Coast Conference Championships on Saturday, November 1 in Spokane, WA before turning their attention to the NCAA Regional meet later in the month.
 
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Players Mentioned

Ava Boyd

Ava Boyd

Junior
Samantha Duwe

Samantha Duwe

Senior
Rylee Guinn

Rylee Guinn

Junior
Tessa Kline

Tessa Kline

Junior
Elisa Ramirez

Elisa Ramirez

Senior
Emma Ronan

Emma Ronan

Junior
Hayden Washington

Hayden Washington

Senior
Kelsey Calhoun

Kelsey Calhoun

Freshman
Kailey O

Kailey O'Brien

Freshman
Anna Bridges

Anna Bridges

Sophomore
Alex Zanon

Alex Zanon

Junior

Players Mentioned

Ava Boyd

Ava Boyd

Junior
Samantha Duwe

Samantha Duwe

Senior
Rylee Guinn

Rylee Guinn

Junior
Tessa Kline

Tessa Kline

Junior
Elisa Ramirez

Elisa Ramirez

Senior
Emma Ronan

Emma Ronan

Junior
Hayden Washington

Hayden Washington

Senior
Kelsey Calhoun

Kelsey Calhoun

Freshman
Kailey O

Kailey O'Brien

Freshman
Anna Bridges

Anna Bridges

Sophomore
Alex Zanon

Alex Zanon

Junior