Hinkle guides Gauchos to memorable victory, Madden makes immediate impact for UC Davis

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Jenna Hinkle had raced seven times in her UC Santa Barbara career at the UC Riverside Ag/Ops Course, but was still in search of that marquee victory.

The last time the Gauchos captured the Big West Conference women’s title was seven years ago, also in Riverside.

And UC Santa Barbara had crowned seven women’s individual conference champions since the turn of the century, but had endured a seven-year drought since its last winner.

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Hinkle, a West Valley CA graduate, made her final collegiate cross country race in California a memorable one, not only winning the 6-kilometer crown Saturday in 20 minutes, 17.1 seconds, but leading UC Santa Barbara to a 45-47 victory over defending-champion Cal Poly for the Gauchos’ 10th title.

It marked the first individual and team sweep for the Gauchos since Amanda Moreno led UC Santa Barbara to a 35-37 victory over Cal Poly in 2010.

Hinkle pulled away from UC Riverside senior Faith Makau (21:03.4) in the final two kilometers to add a conference cross country title to her Big West outdoor 1,500-meter championship in May.

Hinkle had won a 5-kilometer race at the Ag/Ops course Oct. 14 at the Highlander Invitational, but had never prevailed at the 6K distance in her career before Saturday. Her first career 6K race as a freshman, Hinkle finished 50th at the UC Riverside Invitational on the same course in 22:24.9, before returning later in the season to place 34th in 22:17.1 at the 2014 conference finals. She improved to 14th as a sophomore and second last year.

Katie Camarena (20:28.8) took third, Emily Lopez (21:02.9) was eighth, Celeste Wilson (21:07.4) finished 12th and Isa Marshall (21:44.9) placed 22nd for UC Santa Barbara, which finished third at last year’s conference finals.

Miranda Daschian (20:26.8), last year’s California Community College Athletic Association state champion, took second for Cal Poly, moving up three spots in the final two kilometers in only her second career 6K race.

Cal Poly had seven runners in the top 21, but only junior Julia Vasquez – 10th in 21:04.5 to give the Mustangs three in the top 10 with Sierra Brill (20:49.5) placing sixth – returned from last year’s championship lineup.

Samantha Huerta (20:41.5) placed fourth for Cal State Fullerton, which took third with 77 points. Sarah Anderson (20:46) finished fifth for fifth-place UC Davis.

Thomas Madden also became UC Davis’ first men’s champion in seven years, surging in the final 800 meters of the 8-kilometer race to pull away from Cal Poly’s Swarnjit Boyal and secure the victory in 24:13.7. Jon Peterson was the Aggies’ last winner in 2010.

Madden, a transfer from Virginia, had never finished higher than 25th in his three appearances at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. He placed fifth in 24:09 in his first race Sept. 16 at the Ag/Ops course at the UC Riverside Invitational.

Boyal (24:21.4), Peter Cotsirilos (24:39.9) and Mikey Giguere (24:40.2) finished second, third and fourth for Cal Poly, which captured its 15th conference title in 20 years and second in a row by a 29-55 margin over UC Santa Barbara. All seven Mustangs were in the top 16, including last year’s champion Clayton Hutchins (25:05) as Cal Poly’s No. 7 runner.

Yousef Baddour (24:43.1) placed fifth for the Gauchos, who had their five scorers in the top 17.