Hi All,
As we get ready for Track & Field season to start, we are excited to announce our award recipients from the 2016 UCSC Cross Country Banquet. Each year 6 awards are presented; 3 awards for the men and 3 awards for the women. The 3 awards are the Coach’s Award (integrity, perseverance, courage) selected by the coaches, Teammate Award (support, character, inspiration) selected by the student-athletes, and Most Valuable Runner selected as a combination by the coaches and the student-athletes. The Most Valuable Runner Awards are named after Armando Siqueiros and Tamara Torlackson, the first NCAA Qualifiers in program history.
Coach's Award
Sophia Mahoney
Dante Capone
Teammate Award
Sydney Gutierrez
Paul Colosi
Most Valuable Runner
Shannon McClish
Paul Colosi
This has truly been a banner year for both our Men’s and Women’s programs. Not only the accomplishments listed above, but additionally:
16 Association of Division 3 Independents Conference Honorees
Association of Division 3 Independents Coach of the Year
4 New Additions to the All-Time Top 10 List
2 Top 10 West Regional Team Finishes
2 NCAA Qualifiers
We are so excited to start our Track and Field season February 24th at the Johnny Mathis Invitational at SF State. Check out goslugs.com/sports/wtrack and you can see season previews for both our Men’s and Women’s team.
Thanks for all of your support,
UCSC Cross Country
We just returned from the NCAA Championships in Lousiville, Kentucky where we had freshman Paul Colosi and sophomore Shannon McClish compete based on their performances at the West Regional Championships. Paul finished out his incredible freshman season by becoming the first under classmen in program history to compete at the NCAA Championships. Shannon concluded her sophomore campaign with a personal best time of 22:08 at the NCAA Championships. Our program had a phenomenal season and has left us with a lot of excitement for next year Cross Country season.
Before we get to next Cross Country season we will be starting our first complete Track and Field season this Spring. With a talented freshman recruiting class UCSC is going to have an entire Track and Field Roster this season. Make sure to check us out on goslugs.com, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates on our season.
Thank you again for all of the donations and support, we have had an amazing season that could not have been accomplished with out your contributions.
UCSC Cross Country
This season began with the goal of having a successful NCAA West Regional Championships and this past weekend in Salem, Oregon at Willamette University the UCSC Cross Country program had an incredible weekend.
The women lined up in wet and muddy conditions hoping to have a strong race. With a complete team effort, the UCSC women finished in 7th place. The women were led by sophomore sensation Shannon McClish who had the race of her life to place 9th and qualify as an individual for the NCAA DIII National Championships next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. The women had strong performances by Ashley Anderson, Sydney Gutierrez, Jordan Rich, Sophia Mahoney, Raissa Boysen, and Autumn Burton. With no seniors and only two juniors in our top seven we are very excited about what the future holds for this impressive group.
The men followed and had a tremendous race to finish 7th overall. Coming into the final regional rankings the men had slipped outside of the top 10, so a strong effort moved them into 7th. The West Regional Championship was one of the deepest in recent history with 4 teams qualifying for the NCAA Championships. The men were led by freshman Paul Colosi who continued his incredible season by finishing 15th overall. After a nerve-wracking 24 hours Paul was announced as an individual qualifier to the NCAA DIII National Championships. Paul was joined by Zahid Anjum and Dante Capone on the All West Regional Team by virtue of their top 35 place finishes. The men counted on additional strong performances by Kevin Feng, Take Yamaya, Solomon Reinman, and Ethan Williams to place 7th. Like the women, the men return all seven runners, 4 of which are just freshman.
None of this amazing season could have been accomplished with out your generous support. We are incredibly thankful and eager to see what the future holds for us.
UCSC Cross Country
GO SLUGS!
We are three days out from the NCAA Division III West Regional Championships and we couldn't be more excited! With all of your generous support and donations we are taking 7 Men and 7 Women to Salem, Or to compete at the Regional Championships.
We are headed out of San Jose early Friday morning so we can arrive in Oregon in time to do our Pre-Meet routine and preview the course. We lace up Saturday morning at Willamette University in Salem, Or.
The women race first at 10:00 a.m. in the Women's 6000m Championship Race. The men follow at 11:00 a.m. in the Men's 8000m Championship Race.
Results will be posted at : http://wubearcats.com/sports/xc/meetinfo/westregion
Follow us on Social Media to get live updates of our trip.
Website: http://www.goslugs.com/sports/xc/index
Twitter: https://twitter.com/slugtrack
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slugtrack/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SlugTrack
GO SLUGS!
Last Saturday, UC Santa Cruz hosted the 2d Annual Banana Slug Cross Country Invitational. Despite wet, foggy conditions, in the men's 8 kilometer race freshman Paul Calosi took the lead from the start and never looked back, winning the race decisively in a time of 26:07. This time tied Paul's personal best over the 8k distance and was the fastest time ever recorded by a Banana Slug runner over this course. Sophomore Kevin Feng finished a solid 2nd in a time of 26:56, while freshmen Zahid Anjum and Solomon Reinman finished 3rd and 4th with times of 27:13 and 27:14, respectively.
In the women's 6 kilometer race, sophomore Shannon McClish continued her standout season by winning her race in 22:11. Shannon bolted to the front and the never relinquished her lead, setting a new meet record with her effort. Fellow sophomore Raissa Boyson followed Shannon into the finish chute with a very respectable 23:31 for second place, a 60 second personal record.
The UCSC men's and women's cross-country teams continue to train this week and next before traveling to Salem, Oregon, to compete in the NCAA Division III Western Regionals on Saturday, November 12th. Thanks to everyone who contributed so generously to allow us to meet our $6,000 fundraising goal, making it possible for our teams to compete next week at Regionals! It would not have been possible without you!
We are still taking donations until the Regional Championships, which are now ONLY 9 DAYS AWAY! Any additional funds will go toward our team banquet and team equipment.
GO SLUGS!
UCSC Cross Country
Many thanks to all of you who gave so generously and allowed us to reach our $6,000 fundraising goal! This amount will make it possible for the UC Santa Cruz men's and women's cross-country teams to travel to Salem, Oregon, and compete in the NCAA Division III Western Regional Championship on November 12th. The Western Regional Championship will provide our athletes the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championship meet to be held the following week in Louisville, Kentucky.
Any additional funds we receive over and about the $6,000 we have raised thus far will be used for our end of the year team banquet and to purchase much-needed uniform and athletic equipment items for our student-athletes. Our program has had a banner year thus far and we are excited to celebrate all of our student-athletes accomplishments at the end of the season. As many of you may know, our men's and women's cross-country teams have grown in numbers over the last few years, while the funding we have received for uniforms and equipment has not kept pace with this growth. Bottom line: We thank you for your generous financial support and look forward to being able to put any additional funds we receive to much-needed use!
Finally, tomorrow, Saturday, October 29th, UC Santa Cruz will be hosting the 2d Annual Banana Slug Cross-Country Invitational at the East Fieldhouse athletic field. Directions and general information about the meet is located on the UCSC athletics website (goslugs.com). At 8:00 a.m. an Open 2-mile race will be held, followed by the intercollegiate men's 8K race at 9:00 a.m. and the intercollegiate women's 6K at 9:45 a.m. We invite all members of Banana Slugs cross-country family, generous supporters, and fans to come out and cheer on our men's and women's cross-country teams!"
Hi All,
We are only 6 days into this project and we are already over 50% of the way there. Thank you so much for your generous support. We still have around $2,700 to go to finance our trip to Oregon, and every donation not matter how big or small helps.
With just 23 days until the Regional Championships we are getting excited about our final preparations for race day. We have one week until our Banana Slug Invitational where we hope to put one last hard effort before heading to Salem, Or .
Thanks for all of you support,
UCSC Cross Country
Hi Everyone,
We have just completed our opening weekend of our crowfunding project and we have already reached over 30% of our goal. The outpouring of support from everyone has been incredible, and we can’t thank you enough for your contributions.
This past weekend we had incredible performances at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational. With the Men and Women in heavy training blocks as we prepare for the Championship part of our season, the Men finished 8th overall while the Women finished 2nd. The women continued their record setting season by recording the 3rd fastest 6k Team Time in program history in just their first 6k race. We have two weeks to prepare for the UCSC Banana Slug Invite as we do our final tune-ups before the Regional Championships.
Again, thank you for all of your support this far, but we still have a long way to go if we want to be prepared for the Regional Championships. Please consider sharing our page and spreading the word.
Thank you,
UCSC Cross Country
For your thoughtful donation we will make a specific post on our Twitter Account thanking you for your donation.
For your thoughtful donation we will make a personal post on our Facebook Account thanking you for your donation.
For your thoughtful donation we will have one of our team members directly write you an email thanking you for your donation.
For your thoughtful donation we will hand write a personal message from one of our team members thanking you for your donation and giving you an update on the season.
For your thoughtful donation we will provide an autographed team photo of our Cross Country Team.
For your thoughtful donation you can come join us for one of our Team Practices. Observe or come run with the team.
For your thoughtful donation you can come join us to be recognized at our Team Banquet at the end of the season in late November.
For your thoughtful donation we will make you a Honorary Coach for one of our Track and Field Meets this season!