BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 18th-ranked Gonzaga women's cross country team made a statement at the Arturo Barrios Invitational Friday morning, winning the team title in dominant fashion as all five point scorers ran new program top ten times.
Rosina Machu was the Bulldog leader on the Watts Cross Country Course, placing fourth overall and improving her program 6K record with a time of 19:10.0.
In just her second-ever collegiate cross country race,
Willow Collins placed tenth overall with a time of 19:36.5, good for number two all-time in Gonzaga program history. Right behind Collins was true freshman
Logan Hofstee, who placed 17th in 19:48.2 to notch the new fourth-fastest 6K time.
Rounding out the point-scoring was
Jessica Frydenlund and
Jade Rypkema, who finished back-to-back at 21st and 22nd with times of 19:58.4 and 20:00.0. Those times will enter record book at numbers six and seven all time.
Among the rest of the GU finishers were
Sadie Tuckwood (46th, 20:21.0),
Anna Grabowski (78th, 20:49.0), and
Kate Donaldson (85th, 20:51.3), who each placed in the top 100 of a race that saw nearly 400 individual entries.
Gonzaga finished atop the team leaderboard with 74 team points, shattering their previous best of 247 at this same meet (2019). Behind them was fellow West Region foe Boise State (2nd, 133), who is receiving votes in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, Georgia Tech (3rd, 143), and Colorado (4th, 189).
Machu held steady in the top four throughout the race's entirety, clinging to Leah Jeruto (Oklahoma) and Judy Chepkoech (Arizona State). In front of them was Texas Tech's Juliet Cherubet, who's three-second lead at the 2K split would only grow. The Red Raiders sophomore earned the individual win with a time of 18:37.0, finishing 23 seconds ahead of the field and shattering the previous course record by almost 20 seconds.
UP NEXT
Tomorrow, the GU men's and women's squads will reunite at the Inland Empire Classic in Lewiston, Idaho in their second-to-last meet of the regular season.
Full results of the Arturo Barrios Invitational can be found
HERE.
