Banana Slug squads both finish third at NCAA Regionals
11/12/2022 2:30:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
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Nine runners earn All-Region. NCAA bids announced tomorrow
SPOKANE, WA - UC Santa Cruz 's historic run through the Cross Country season continued with a historic run at the NCAA West Regional.
Both the nationally ranked women and men's squads finished third at the event held at the Plante Ferry Sports Complex. It was the highest Regional finish ever for the women, and gave the men a top-three finish for the fifth season in a row. The teams now wait to see if they are chosen for At-Large berths to next week's NCAA Division III Championship in East Lansing, Michigan.
For the women, Riley Martel-Phillips was runner-up in the 6K in 21:52.8. Martel-Phillips tied the best finish ever for a Banana Slug runner, joining Mikayla Murphy who finished second in 2008. The finish guaranteed her a spot in next week's Championships. Ash Baudin also secured a Championship spot, finishing 10th in 22:03.6. Both Baudin and Martel-Phillips repeated as All Region honorees. Andrea Gallardo also became a two-time All Region runner, finishing 29th in 22:51.8. Iris Abegglen gave UC Santa Cruz four All Region runners for the second-straight year, with a time of 23:00 flat to finish 35th. Helena Janku (41st, 23:11.2), Faith Dyogi (53rd, 23:28.6) and Hanna Hekkanen (61st, 23:42.0) completed the UC Santa Cruz contingent.
The men were led by C2C Champion Eric Jackson and Oliver Chang, who finished 3-4 to also clinch at least an individual slot in Michigan. Jackson crossed the line in 24:34.3 followed by Chang 3.1 seconds later. It's the first time ever UC Santa Cruz had two top-five finishers at Regionals, and the pair join Armando Siqueiros ('81 & '82) and Draven Hawk ('17) as the only Banana Slugs to ever finish top-five.
Chang (L) and Jackson stayed with the lead pack the whole race
Three more Banana Slug men earned All Region accolades. Eric Anderson was 27th in 25:14.3, Walter Teitelbaum was 34th in 25:37.4, and Casey Orton was 35th in 25:37.6. The five All Region performers is a program record, and Teitelbaum became a three-time All Region runner.
Rounding out the Banana Slug contingent was Raymond Ingersoll (50th, 26:07.9) and Hayden Johnson (60th, 26:21.1).
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