Cunniff excited about championship weekend
Heading into Halloween weekend, the women’s cross country team aims to finish out conference play with an exclamation point at the Big West Championship at UC Riverside.
Coming off the heels of a very impressive performance at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, head coach Patrick Cunniff says the team is rounding into form at the perfect time.
“Coming into the meet [Bronco Invitational], both myself and our director of track and field Andy Sythe, were very cognizant of the fact that we had a number of athletes who were running really well” said Cunniff.
One of those athletes undoubtedly was senior Rosa Del Toro, who was her team’s top finisher [30th overall] at the 49er’s last event in Minnesota.
“He [Sythe]specifically asked me to make sure we had a copy of our all-time top 10 list going into the meet, so as we saw the performances of the kids we’d know where they stacked up. That proved to be a good set of foresight”.
It was indeed a smart idea. Del Toro ended up leading the 9ers to a first place finish [out of 21 schools] breaking a three-year school record set by Sarah Apgar in the 5000-meters. Finishing fourth overall, she set the new 49er record comfortably recording a 17:09, five seconds better than Apgar. Del Toro had previously finished seventh in the same event last year.
For Del Toro’s efforts, she was awarded conference Cross Country Athlete of the Week for the second time this season. The Van Nuys native also helped her school place ninth overall in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) West Region poll. Before the Bronco Invitational, they were unranked. Big West rival UC Davis is ranked seventh.
It has been a standout season for Del Toro, whom coach Cunniff notes is an absolute joy to work with and claims is the nicest person on the planet.
“We were extremely happy that she chose CSULB, she has exceeded expectations even as a former junior college champ” Cunniff said.
Besides having elite level talent as an athlete, Cunniff says that she is just as humble.
“Me and the other coaches always joke around with her, trying to poke around to find a mean bone in her body. We always work on her to be a bit more confident and have that swagger” Cunniff said.
Juniors Nina Moore and Michelle Thompson also had strong showings, finishing second and third for CSULB, with times of 17:38 and 17:39 good enough for 23rd and 25th respectively.
“Our goals are to be a very competitive championship level team, and it was very satisfying on that day to be at the event and watch our team perform at levels that reflected that. Not only from the team standpoint but individually” Sythe said.
The 9ers couldn’t have asked for better timing to be peaking heading into championship weekend. They have reason to be confident, as they will head to Riverside with a ninth overall ranking.
“We’re very excited going into the championships. We know we’re not the favorites, we know that there are teams that have been ranked ahead of us or maybe have a little bit longer history, but we’re excited because we feel like our team as well as a few of our individuals all have a legitimate shot to win the title. We also feel that the team is coming around to get ready for their best performance right now” Cunniff said.
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