SAN FRANCISCO — The Santa Clara University women's cross country team began its 2026 season Friday at the 33rd annual USF Invitational in Golden Gate Park, placing fifth as a team behind a runner-up individual finish by senior Milaina Almonte.
 
Almonte placed second in 20 minutes, 26.6 seconds, over the 6-kilometer course. She sandwiched herself between winner Julia Flynn (20:10.3) of Stanford and third-place finisher Sophie Tau (20:32.0) of California, as well as beating every runner from host San Francisco, who was picked ahead of the Broncos in last week's West Coast Conference preseason coaches' poll. Almonte ran shoulder-to-shoulder with Tau for most the race, but pulled away from her over the final kilometer to grab second.
 
Olivia Schlieman gave the Broncos two in the top-20, placing 16th in 21:20.6. The rest of Santa Clara's scorers came in a minute later, with Julia Russo finishing 44th in 22:20.7, Sarah Guralnick coming in 48th in 22:27.3 and freshman Sophie Bair – making her collegiate debut – finishing right next to Guralnick in 49th with the exact same time (22:27.3).
 
Josie Cahill (52nd, 22:28.4) and another true freshman in Stella Newman (63rd, 22:40.8) rounded out the Broncos' top-seven runners. Isabella Gonzalez also made her collegiate debut, crossing the line in 65th with a time of 22:42.0. Kiera Kime finished 71st in 22:47.7, and Alyssa Wyatt was 77th in 22:59.7.
 
Natalie O'Dell (81st, 23:08.0), Aliyah Yearian (85th, 23:10.0), Julia Lentz (88th, 23:20.9), Isabella Cruz (89th, 23:20.9, Ramneek Kaur (95th, 23:43.2), Grace Winkler (97th, 23:44.9) and Mariah Aragon (129th, 25:29.4) also competed for Santa Clara.
 
The Broncos finished fifth as a team with 138 points. The host Dons scored 41 points to take the team title, beating NCAA Division II program Stanislaus State (2nd, 82 points) and California Baptist (3rd, 87 points). The Broncos also beat WCC foe Pacific (9th, 276 points) and South Bay rival San Jose State (12th, 354 points).
 
The Broncos take a weekend off before heading to the East Bay on Sept. 18 for the Saint Mary's Invitational in Concord, Calif.