FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
By Ron Smith
October 9, 2026
 
(SAN FRANCISCO) "The Warriors are coming home with two second-place plaques in a field of eight for both the men and women," said Westmont Cross Country's head coach Russell Smelley about the team's performances at the San Francisco State Invitational on Friday.
 
Taking place in Golden Gate Park, the men's 8,000-meter race was run first. Chico State, ranked eighth in NCAA DII, won the race by scoring a minimum 15 points. Westmont freshman Phillip Contakes placed sixth, finishing the race in a time of 25:10.7. Sophomore Kaeden Anderson finished in 12th place with a time of 25:27.9.
 
"Phillip and Kaeden mixed it up well with the Wildcats up front and brought home top-finisher t-shirts," noted Smelley.
 
Westmont sophomore William Covington placed 16th in a time of 25:34.8, followed by freshman Blake Holtermann who finished 19th in a time of 25:43.6. Senior Tyler Allan completed the Warriors' scoring, crossing the finish line 21st in a time of 25:47.8
 
"The Warrior men had a top-five team spread of 0:38 and top-seven of 0:53 as the best performance of the season," pointed out Smelley. "Lucas Satterlee (25:49.7) and Sam Nealon (25:53.2) rounded out the top seven for a solid team performance. Warriors were packed together through the top 12 in a strong showing of team competitiveness."
 
Westmont tallied 59 points, finishing ahead of UC Merced in third place with 105 points. The host Gators placed fourth with a score of 112, one point ahead of San Jose State in fifth place.
 
The women's 6,000-meter race followed with Chico State's sixth-ranked women's team finishing first with 22 points. Westmont's 82 points was enough by one to beat out third-place San Francisco State.
 
Freshman Sofia Hernandez led the Warriors with a sixth-place finish, completing the race in a time of 22:03.5, Ruby Savage finished 15th with a time of 22:39.6. They also brought home "best finisher" t-shirts.
 
"Sofia and Ruby ran personal bests for the 6,000 meters on a more challenging course than they ran at The Masters last Saturday," noted Smelley.
 
Leia Larson placed 29th for the Warriors in a time of 23:13.1, Lucy Pickering Pick crossed the finish line 34th in a time of 23:31.2 and Adalyn Rodriguez completed the Warriors' scoring with a time of 23:36.3 in 37th place.
 
"The Warrior women had a top-five team spread of 1:33 and top-seven of 2:00," reported Smelley. "Sophie Stoddart and Grace Roesgen rounded out the top-seven. All seven ran faster than at The Master's last Saturday."
 
Speaking about both teams, Smelley said, "Today's success is strongly motivating to both teams as they begin to have a sense of their potential for performing well at the PacWest Championships.
 
"I told the teams today that in the 1980s, when we were trying to start the program up again and we competed at Bakersfield, the team got a trophy. All of a sudden people believed they were competing instead of just finishing. That is what I saw today, and I am really proud and excited about it."
 
Smelley is in his 48th year as the team's head coach.
 
"I think that - competing in DII - we are going to start getting better results. I am very excited for them," expressed Smelley.
 
The Warriors have just one more regular season meet on the schedule. On Saturday, October 24, Westmont Cross Country will head to eastern Los Angeles County to compete in the Cal Poly Pomona Invitational.
 
The PacWest Championships will take place on Sunday, November 8 at Jessup University in Rocklin.