Westmont Men’s and Women’s Cross Country opened their seasons on Friday when they competed in the Big West Invitational in Nipomo.
While the Warriors will begin competition at the NCAA Division II level and in the PacWest Conference this season, Westmont’s lid-lifter was a meet hosted by Cal Poly SLO that featured primarily Division I competition.
The Mustangs of Cal Poly won both races, with the men’s team finishing with a score of 33, and the women winning it with a score of 39.
For Westmont, the men finished in ninth place with 222 points, while the women came in 10th with a score of 322.
Individually, in the men’s 6K, Zola Sokhela began his third season of cross country with a team-best time of 18:57.4 to go along with a 43rd-place finish.
Coming in just behind Sokhela was junior transfer Bryce Gardhouse, who came in 46th place with a time of 19:02.2 in his Westmont debut.
Freshman Luke Hein was the next Warrior to finish, posting a time of 19:18.4, followed by freshman Phin Bonner with a time of 19:57.1.
Rounding out Westmont’s top five was junior Rey Laureano, who finished the 6K in 20:17.8.
On the women’s side, senior Anneline Breytenbach was Westmont’s first finisher, completing the 5K in 76th place with a time of 20:15.5. Westmont’s next finisher was Dulce Esquivel, a junior transfer, who completed the race in 20:47.0.
Kari Anema and Gretchen Scherrei were Westmont’s third and fourth finishers, posting times of 20:50.0 and 21:02.6, respectively.
Rounding out Westmont’s top five was freshman Molly Sandrige, who posted a time of 21:28.5 in her collegiate debut.
Westmont returns to action next Friday in Fullerton, when they compete in the Biola Invitational against their new PacWest rivals.