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Kevin Lynch Leads Utah Valley to Strong Showing at Santa Clara Bronco Invitational

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DyeStat.com   Oct 20th 2019, 9:27pm
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Lynch prepares for WAC title defense with impressive victory at Baylands Park, helping Wolverines to runner-up men’s finish; San Jose State’s Sandoval secures women’s win, with Utah Valley capturing team crown

By August Howell for DyeStat

Utah Valley continued to build momentum Saturday at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational, with the women’s team capturing the title in the invitational 6-kilometer race and men’s team relying on an 8-kilometer victory from senior Kevin Lynch to propel the Wolverines to a runner-up finish behind UC Santa Barbara at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, Calif.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

For Lynch, who produced his third top-five finish of the season, it provided more validation since coming back from injury.

Lynch separated himself from the pack at the second mile, finishing in 23 minutes, 42.3 seconds, his first cross country victory since winning the Western Athletic Conference title last year.

UC Santa Barbara’s Nick Randazzo took second in 23:55.1 and San Jose State’s Jose Pina placed third in 24:01.7. They were in the chase pack the whole race, but couldn’t close the gap on Lynch.

UC Santa Barbara took the team title with 52 points and Utah Valley finished second with 68 points.

“That’s the way I tend to run,” Lynch said. “I like to get out and make it honest from the beginning. Sometimes it works out in my favor and sometimes it doesn’t. Today it was lucky enough to work.”

After sustaining an injury earlier in the summer and with the WAC Championships upcoming Nov. 2 in Kansas City, Lynch was looking for a big finish to build confidence in preparation to defend his individual title and lead the Wolverines to another team championship.

“I’m coming off an injury from the summer, so I kind of feel I’m finally hitting stride towards the end of the season,” Lynch said.

The women’s invitational 6-kilometer race featured a three-way battle between Montana’s June Eastwood, San Jose State’s Jenny Sandoval and Santa Clara’s Janie Nabholz.

Eastwood, the first openly transgender male to female athlete competing in NCAA Division 1 cross country, was coming off a win Oct. 4 at the Montana Invitational.

The trio separated from the rest of the field after roughly eight minutes, and went together until about 16:30 at 3 miles. From there, Eastwood and Sandoval pulled away and were shoulder to shoulder going into the final grassy straightaway.

Sandoval outkicked Eastwood with an impressive burst of speed to win in 20:17.6, with Eastwood just behind in 20:18.7. It marked the second victory in three years at Baylands Park for Sandoval, in addition to her second win in three races this season, including Aug. 31 at the San Francisco Invitational.

Nabholz (20:35) finished 10th.

Senior Savannah Neuberger placed 12th in 20:39.9, helping Utah Valley earn the team victory, as the Wolverines had five scorers in the top 35 to prevail with 105 points. Wyoming was second with 148.

The men’s open 8-kilometer race showcased several unattached redshirts, as was the case with redshirt junior Jack Davidson of Santa Clara. Davidson ran to a lifetime-best 23:52.3, finishing behind Stanford redshirt Michael Vernau (23:48.7) and former San Francisco standout Chris Olley 23:47.8.

UC Santa Cruz secured the team victory with 34 points with all five scorers in the top 40.

Davidson was satisfied with his efforts at a course he’s been racing on for several years.

“I haven’t been racing in four months or so, the last time I raced was regionals for track,” Davidson said. “To come out here and get a good summer in and show my strength out here is something I’m really happy with, especially at a home meet.”

The women’s open 6-kilometer race featured its most commanding victory. Ayla Granados of the HOKA ONE ONE Aggies dominated the competition to win in 20:35.6.

She was nearly across the line when second-place finisher Jeanette Zambrano, an unattached runner from San Jose State, reached the last straightaway. Zambrano finished in 21:09.9.

UC Santa Barbara handily won the open race with 44 points, placing five scorers in the top 35.

The race was never in doubt for Granados, an assistant coach for Notre Dame de Namur and former Chico State standout, as she immediately created a wide gap between her and the completion. It was her first cross country race in over a year, and she put in hard effort to test her fitness.

“It’s definitely harder running a 6K alone, so I think I could have maintained a better pace if I had people to run with,” said Granados, who hadn’t competed at the Bronco Invitational since 2015 and nearly approached her personal-best 20:30.9 at Baylands Park from 2014.

“But it’s also a good quality to learn how to run hard by yourself too. Because if you can do that, once you get into a race with a group around you it makes it easier to run hard.”



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