SAN MARCOS, CALIF. - On Saturday October 23rd, the Sonoma state women's cross country team traveled down to Cal State San Marcos for the 2021 CCAA Cross Country Championships! Second year head coach David Lawrence Jr. would lead the charge as the Seawolves cross country program had not finished inside the top-10 of the conference championships since the 2012 season where they finished 9th out of 11 teams. SSU saw some of their best team finishes in recent seasons this year with a 10th place finish at the Cougar Challenge and a 5th place finish at the Pacific Invitational. 

Several Seawolves also recorded new PR's along the way and made some history as well including freshman Alex Boyle who recorded the second fastest 6k time in school history at the Cougar Challenge helping the team to a 10th place finish. With a young and hungry squad, the Seawolves were poised to climb the leaderboard and look for a quality finish in this year's conference championships. 

With an 11-team field, the Seawolves made some history today and broke a record while they were at it as they finished in 8th place in the 2021 CCAA Championships! The top-10 finish would be the program's best finish in the conference championships in 17 seasons since the 2004 season where SSU placed 7th out of 10 participating teams. During that time, CSU Bakersfield was still a member of the CCAA and the conference would be missing three teams that help makeup the conference today. 
 

However, one of the greatest stories to come out of the conference championships was freshman Alex Boyle who broke into the top-5 of the program's 6k record books with a time of 21:54.3. As a true freshman, Boyle stands behind SSU alumni Kathy Lenno and Analicia Garcia in the record books who hold times in the top-4 spots. Boyle previously ran the 10th best 6k mark in program history earlier this season but was able to shave nearly 20 seconds off of that time here at the conference championships. Boyle did however record the program's best time in the 6k at a conference championship and stands as the only runner in program history with a sub 22-minute 6k time at a conference championship event. 



Boyle would come in as the Seawolves top finisher as she placed 23rd out of the 87 person field and helped the team to their 8th place finish. "We're all incredibly happy for Alex who broke into the record books and recorded a top-5 time in the 6k today. She's had a great season and it's only the beginning" (Lawrence Jr.).           

To add to the overall success, several other SSU runners also recorded new PR's in the race. Four of the team's five participating runners, including Alex Boyle, Sophie Rodriguez, Sara Wenger, and Abby Ribet, all recorded new personal bests. Boyle, Ribet, Rodriguez, and Maddy Petersen all finished inside the top-60 individually with three of those four finishing inside the top-50. Petersen would record a 23:38.0 and just miss out on a new personal best just by a handful of seconds.   

"Our team knew we were capable of finishing where we finished today. This program has come a long way and our team has improved each and every race this season. Almost every runner for us today recorded a new PR and so I'm really happy for all of them and for them to be a part of this experience" (Lawrence Jr.).



The Seawolves will now prepare for the NCAA West Regionals to have a chance at qualifying for the NCAA National Championships! Be sure to check the Sonoma State Cross Country schedule page for upcoming race dates and further updates. Congratulations to the SSU cross country team on an incredible CCAA Championship performance and to Alex Boyle on cracking the top-5 in the 6k, and recording the fastest 6k at a conference championship event in program history! 

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