Miranda Daschian, Jake Ritter capture individual crowns for Mustangs, who hold off strong challenge from Cal State Fullerton in women’s race 

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Cal Poly junior Miranda Daschian likes knowing where her competition is.

And with the way Cal State Fullerton’s women have run the second half of this season, she didn’t have to look far Saturday, as the Titans were determined to breathe down Daschian and her teammates’ necks.

Cal State Fullerton gave the Mustangs everything they could handle at the Big West Conference Championships at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS | PHOTOS

But Cal Poly’s women held off the Titans 33-39, capping a sweep of the conference championships for the second time in three years. The Mustangs also avenged a two-point loss last year to UC Santa Barbara.

Daschian won the women’s 6-kilometer race in a course-record time of 21 minutes, 23.1 seconds, breaking away late to outleg runner-up Samantha Huerta of Cal State Fullerton (21:26.5) and teammate Katie Izzo (21:26.7). Unlike the men’s race, which Jake Ritter won in a landslide, the women’s front pack was tight until about 800 meters to go.

“I usually don’t like being way out in front like Jake did,” said Daschian, the conference runner-up last year to Jenna Hinkle of UC Santa Barbara.

“It was nice to have people around me. I like to hear people breathing and know that I need to keep it up.”

Cal Poly was the favorite on both sides entering the weekend, but recent results from Cal State Fullerton suggested the Titans could challenge for the first women’s title in program history.

But Daschian, Izzo and Peyton Bilo positioned themselves 1-2-3 by the halfway point and the Mustangs led by as many as 19 points.

“It means the world,” said Izzo, who spent the better part of two seasons recovering from a broken right leg while Bilo returned this season following a stress fracture.

“We knew it was going to be close. We definitely have just been watching what they’re doing. But we knew if we all just raced to our fullest, we would be able to do it. I’m super proud of my team.”

The Mustangs needed every bit of it, too, because the Titans finished in a flurry.

Huerta, the Titans’ No. 1 runner, made up five spots in the final mile, passing Izzo just before the finish. Izzo and Bilo placed 3-4, UC Santa Barbara’s Astrid Rosvall was fifth in 21:46.5 and Cal State Fullerton’s Trinity Ruelas was sixth in 21:50.4.

The Titans had hoped to use a late-season surge – springboarded by a win at the Highlander Invitational two weeks ago at UC Riverside – and perhaps overtake Cal Poly. They came up short, but still felt good about a program-best, second-place finish.

Coach John Elders called his team’s effort “amazing.”

“We’re building up to it,” Huerta said. “Greatness doesn’t happen overnight. We can be sad about it for now, but we’ve got to remember it’s going to take work and it’s going to take heart, so we’ve got to keep working for it.

“They know we’re on their (heels),” she added, referring to the Mustangs. “They have a legacy to keep but we have history to make.”

On the men’s side, the Mustangs left no doubt. Ritter bolted to a big early lead and won the 8-kilometer race in 24:27.5. He said it was a day in which he really wanted to challenge himself.

“I wanted to run a race that … I never felt comfortable; never felt like I was just cruising,” he said, “and that I was pushing the whole time.”

UC Santa Barbara’s Brian Schulz tried to chase Ritter for the first half of the race before settling for third in 24:40.5 behind teammate Daniel Mountcastle (24:39.1).

The Mustangs won with 32 points, with Peter Cotsirilos (fifth, 24:42.4), Evan Jameson (seventh, 24:49.1), Ben Holland (ninth, 24:52.7) and Logan Marshall (10th, 24:55.2) rounding out their scorers.

“It means a lot,” Ritter said. “We were kind of expecting to have a team win but it wasn’t set in stone. To go out there and finish and then look back and see seven of my teammates was priceless.”

The Gauchos placed second with 69 points and Fullerton was third with 104.

There was a concerning moment at the end of the men’s race when Cal State Fullerton’s Sam Pimentel, who placed 12th, went down with what appeared to be a seizure. Paramedics seemed to stabilize Pimentel before taking him by ambulance to a local hospital.

Elders reported that Pimentel was doing “a lot better” later and even talked with some teammates via Facetime.