SUNNYVALE – California cross country returned to competition on Saturday morning at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara. The women's squad took home 13th place overall, while the men's team took 15th.
 
Claire Yerby headlined the Bears' showing with her stellar performance in the women's 6,000-meter race. Yerby took 33rd place overall with her personal best time of 20:58, the mark being her fastest run by nearly two minutes.
 
"I felt great today, and knowing my teammates were out there with me really helped me keep pushing when it got tough," Yerby said.  
 
Natalie Weiner also posted her best mark in Saturday's race, logging a 21:21.5 time to come in 60th place. Freshman Georgia McCorkle was next to finish for the Bears, racing the course in 21:28.5 to take 68th place overall, her personal best of her collegiate career.
 
Freshman Emilie Barrett ran over a minute and a half faster than her previous 6,000-meter race, setting a new personal record of 21:58.8. Newcomer Lucy Hurt matched her collegiate personal best exactly, posting a 22:01.3 time which she last did at the Paul Short race in 2021 when she was an undergraduate at Cornell.
 
On the men's side, Garrett MacQuiddy was the top Cal-finisher for the second-straight meet. MacQuiddy took 55th place overall and crossed the line in 24:34.1
 
Rowan FitzGerald was next to finish the 8,000-meter race with a time of 24:47.1, the freshman's personal best of his collegiate career. Fellow freshman John Sesteaga took the third scoring slot as he finished next with his personal best mark of 24:51.

"There were some positives to take away from today," Cal head coach Bobby Lockhart said. "Adding Carrick Denker and Emilie Barrett back to the lineup gives the team depth. Our top two men are coming off sickness and our third guy had to sit due to it. That said, Rowan FitzGerald, Carrick Denker, and John Sesteaga did a good job stepping up. We need to be ready to go by conference and with a healthy lineup, I have confidence they will have a good showing."

"I feel pretty confident in our ability to push each other going into Pac-12s, and hopefully we will be able to put all the pieces together when it counts," Yerby added.
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will now turn their focus to championship season as they are set to race in the Pac-12 Championships on Oct. 28. The race will take place at UC Riverside and will be aired on the Pac-12 Network.
 
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal cross country, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalTFXC), Instagram (@caltfxc) and Facebook (/CalTFXC/).