SPOKANE, Wash. — Junior Milaina Almonte led the Santa Clara University women's cross country team to a sixth-place finish Saturday with her own sixth-place individual showing at the 2025 West Coast Conference Championship at The Course in Spokane.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Almonte's sixth-place individual finish was the highest finish by a Bronco since 2009, when Stephanie Wilson won the WCC individual title. Almonte cross the finish line in 20 minutes, 24.1 seconds, only 6.8 seconds from a top-five placing. She earned first team All-WCC honors with her standout performance.
   
• Sarah Guralnick followed as the team's No. 2 runner, placing 33rd overall in 21:58.3 to break the 22-minute mark and finish among the championship's top 35 competitors. Julia Russo placed 43rd (22:29.6), Sydney Lim was 47th (22:33.8), and Josie Cahill finished 58th (23:04.6) to complete the scoring lineup.
   
• Aliyah Yearian (60th, 23:06.9) and Heidi Green (61st, 23:07.2) competed as displacers, while Alyssa Wyatt, Grace Volner, and Mariah Aragon also represented Santa Clara in the race.
   
• Santa Clara scored 187 points as a team to finish sixth in the 12-team field. The Broncos were only 30 points behind fifth-place Portland (157 points). Washington State won the team title with 38 points, followed by Gonzaga (42) and Oregon State (85) to round out the top three.

COMING UP

• Santa Clara next competes at the NCAA West Regional Championship on Nov. 14 at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, Calif. The women's race begins at 9 a.m. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.