SACRAMENTO— The UCSB Men’s and Women’s Cross Country team competed hard at Friday’s NCAA West Regional in what is likely the final contest of the 2021 season for the Gauchos. On the men’s side the Gauchos had one of their best showings in recent years placing 10th, and on the women’s side UCSB finished 27th.
In the men’s 10K, the Gauchos finished 20-48-83-89-135 for a score of 375 and total time of 2:37:26 in their first 10k in competition this year. They were the top Big West team in the contest, and it was their best showing since taking 8th in 2015.
Senior captain Nick Randazzo was the first across in 20th with a time of 30:15.6 and was the top Big West athlete in the race
Next across was senior Brian Schulz who finished 48th with a time 30:52.9, and finishing in 83rd with a 31:40.0 was Big West Freshman of the Year Zachary Parker. Senior Jarret Chinn was next taking 89th with a 31:52.1, and rounding out UCSB’s scoring efforts was sophomore Brandon Cobian who crossed at 32:45.3 for 135th.
In the women’s 6K, UCSB finished 133-136-153-163-188 for a score of 773 and a total time of 1:53.16.
Sophomore Madeline Franco was the first to finish with a time of 22:21.7 and just behind her was freshman Sarah Auther, who came in a step later at 22:23.1.
Sophomore Isabella Abusaid took 153rd with a time of 22:35.6 and freshman Sierra Ransweiler was next in 163rd at 22:44.9. In 188th place was freshman Sophia Guttierez at 23:10.7
THE 2021 NCAA SELECTION SHOW
While the season is likely over for two Gaucho teams, Randazzo will be waiting on tomorrow’s NCAA Selection show, hosted on NCAA.com, to see if he will be invited once again to the NCAA Championship. If Gonzaga earns an at-large to the Tallahassee race, Randazzo will qualify as an individual having notched the second-best time by a non-qualifying team. The show is set for 2 p.m. Saturday,
Daniel Moebus-Bowles works in communications/media relations at UCSB.
email: dmason@newspress.com
