STANFORD, Calif. – California men's and women's cross country teams wrapped up the Pac-12 Championship on Friday at the Stanford Golf Course. The men's team finished in seventh place while the women notched an 11^th place finish.
 
The men's team was led by redshirt senior Garrett Corcoran. Corcoran finished in 19^th place with a time of 23:30.40. Corcoran was part of a very large lead group that went out early. No one pushed the pace in the top group until the final 2k loop. Corcoran spent much of the race just sitting in behind the top group, drafting off of them as he finished 21 seconds behind the winner.
 
"He needs to put himself in the middle of that front pack, instead of towards the back," head coach Shayla Houlihan said. "I think it's a good learning point, going into regionals because it is going to be a similar pack. He's got to be in the top-25 at Regionals in order to get to nationals as an individual. So this was a great learning experience for him to know what he has to do in order to execute in two weeks."
 
Andrew Burkhardt crossed the line next for the Bears as he finished in 35^th place with a time of 23:59.11. Ryan Peck and Kai Benedict were the next two as they finished four places and four seconds apart. Paul Zeiss, Colin FitzGerald and Steven Khan crossed the line within four places of each other. Zeiss finished in 64^th with a time of 25:11.02 while Fitzgerald and Khan were within a second of each other as Khan made a great finishing kick over the home stretch.
 
That was a theme for the Bears; at the last split, the men's team was in last place.  However, they utilized their training to move up two spots over the final 2000 meters of the race.
 
"All of the men did a good job of staying strong and moving up," Houlihan said." I think that's a testament to how we train; we have been training for the 10k instead of the 8k. We are staying strong and getting stronger over the final 2k of the race. They started a little slow, but overall it was solid. Anytime you are finishing strong on the last 2k you are doing pretty well."
 
The women's team did a good job of racing together as they had a split of 42 seconds amongst their five scorers. That was the second lowest split amongst all of the teams and important for a very young group.
 
Sophomore Annie Boos led the way as she finished in 21:15.10 to take 45^th place. Freshman Marea Zlatunich crossed the line in 21:19.41 to take 48^th place. Sophomore Meredith Corda notched a time of 21:40.48. She was followed by freshman Jessica Nye at 21:48.94. Ariane Arndt capped the scoring as she took 74^th with a time of 21:57.48. Freshmen Kenna Clawson (22:05.97) and Sydney Vandegrift (22:20.03) were the next two across the line. The Bears' 10-person lineup consisted of five freshmen, two sophomores, two redshirt sophomores and one junior.
 
"The freshmen got a really good experience," Houlihan said. "For where they are developmentally, they raced really well. Marea was able to close well over the final 1000m. She was also able to work with Annie to push each other throughout the race. For them to learn to run together in a race environment is a positive that they can utilize heading into regionals."
 
The Bears will return to action in two weeks at the NCAA West Regional in Sacramento, Calif. The Bears will return to Haggin Oaks Golf Course on Friday, November 9^th.
 
MEN
TEAM
7. California, 196 points
 
INDIVIDUAL
19. Garrett Corcoran, 23:30.40
35. Andrew Burkhardt, 23:59.11
48. Ryan Peck, 24:34.25
52. Kai Benedict, 24:38.82
64. Paul Zeiss, 25:11.02
66. Colin FitzGerald, 25:18.42
67. Steven Khan, 25:18.50
70. Ben Harper, 25:39.16
72. Shane Bissell, 26:02.32
75. Moises Medrano, 26:13.66
 
 
WOMEN
TEAM
11. California, 277 points
 
INDIVIDUAL  
45. Annie Boos, 21:15.10
48. Marea Zlatunich, 21:19.41
66. Meredith Corda, 21:40.48
70. Jessica Nye, 21:48.94
74. Ariane Arndt, 21:57.48
77. Kenna Clawson, 22:05.97
84. Sydney Vandegrift, 22:20.03
86. Chloe Hansel, 22:22.33
94. Marissa Dobry, 23:01.57
96. Jasmine He, 23:10.99