SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Santa Clara University women's cross country senior Milaina Almonte was named Thursday to the West Coast Conference Preseason Team, and the Broncos were picked to finish third at the WCC championship in the preseason coaches' poll.
 
Santa Clara received 49 points to finish third in the coaches' poll. San Francisco received five first-place votes and 58 total points to finish runner-up, and 21-time champion Portland received three first-place votes and 59 total points to edge the Dons as the favorite in the poll.
 
Almonte had a historic 2025-26 for the Broncos in both cross country and track. She earned a first team all-WCC nod by finishing sixth at the 2025 WCC Championship, then earned all-region honors with a 20th-place finish at the NCAA West Region Championship. She was Santa Clara's top runner in all five of the meets she ran during the cross country season, including winning the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 18 in a school-record time of 20 minutes, 6.5 seconds.
 
In the spring, Almonte continued her historic run with a record-setting track season. She became the fourth Bronco all-time on the women's side to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West First Round meet in May, running the 3,000-meter steeplechase. There, she'd finish 22nd, moving up 26 spots in a field she entered ranked 48th.
 
Almonte ran four top-five all-time marks in 2026 for the Broncos' indoor and outdoor track programs. Her 16:25.89 indoor 5,000 meters she ran in December was nearly the fastest 5,000 ever run by a Bronco in indoor or outdoor. She ran 16:35.04 at the Stanford Invitational on April 3 that ranks fourth on the all-time outdoor list. She narrowly missed the school-record with her aforementioned 3,000-meter steeplechase performance on May 9, and she posted the third-best time in the indoor 3,000 at 9:44.40 in February.
 
Almonte and the Broncos begin their 2026 cross country season on Sept. 4 at the USF Invitational at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The WCC Championship is scheduled for Oct. 30 in San Diego, with the NCAA West Regional slated for Nov. 13 in Sacramento, Calif.