For the first time in five years, Cal Poly has swept the Big West weekly cross country awards behind two stellar performances over the weekend.
On Tuesday, junior Tatiana Cornejo was named Women’s Athlete of the Week, while graduate student Davis Bove secured the honors on the men’s side.
It’s Cornejo’s first time winning the award, simultaneously making her the first Cal Poly woman to win the award since Miranda Daschian won on Oct. 1, 2019.
On the other hand, Bove has now been awarded conference Athlete of the Week in back-to-back meets this year, as he also won it for his performance at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Oct. 4.
For Cornejo, this comes after her performance on Saturday in Sunnyvale, Calif., at the Bronco Invitational. She streaked to a first-place finish to secure the women’s 6K individual title.
With a time of 20:14.4, she ran the fastest 6K among conference runners this weekend.
This is her third straight meet being the women’s top finisher.
Cornejo’s run also helped lead the women to the team title, as the Mustangs were 75 points in front of second-place UC Davis.
With yet another excellent performance from Bove on Saturday morning in his second race of the season, he’s now racked up four Big West Athlete of the Week honors as a Mustang.
This one comes after placing 15th in the Pre-Nationals in a highly competitive field in Madison, Wisconsin.
Racing at the site of this year’s cross country championships, Bove was challenged by some talented runners as 19 of the top 30 nationally ranked teams competed at Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.
Like Cornejo, he had the best 8K time in the Big West this weekend, finishing with a time of 23:08.6. His placement helped the Mustangs finish 23rd.
The awards officially conclude the 2024 cross country regular season, as both teams will now try to sweep the Big West Championships for the third year in a row.
The Big West Championships meet will take place on Nov. 2 at UC Riverside’s Agriculture Operations Course.