St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) senior Cooper Teare finished in first place at the 43rd Annual Stanford Invitational’s men’s seeded competition last Saturday, Oct. 1, at Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto.

Teare completed the 5K course in 14:38.90. Not only did he beat out the 164 other competitors in the open division, Teare’s time was faster than all the male athletes that competed in the event. That amounts to just under 1,000 runners in six divisions. Teare beat out senior Michael Vernau of Davis who finished in second place with a time of 14:47.60. Senior Callum Bolger of San Luis Obispo came in third place with a time of 14:54.40. The open division of was won by Great Oak of Temecula. SJND did not compete as a team in the open division. 

SJND women’s cross country member Kiera Marshall finished fourth in the open division women’s competition. Marshall, a senior, completed the course in 17:31.70. She finished fourth out of 127 competitors. Marshall finished less than 16 seconds behind the eventual winner Eve Jensen of Boise High School in Boise, Id., who won with a time of 17:15.90. 

The SJND men’s team finished ninth, out of 24 teams, in the Div. V competition with a score of 237. Senior Willie Mein set the pace for the Pilots with a fifth-place finish out of 163 participants. Mein completed the 5K race in a time of 16:18.40. 

Freshman Dominic Padre came in 44th place with a time of 17:28. Sophomore Gabe Trevino tied for 56th place with a time of 17:49.70, while junior Cameron Gill finished right behind him in 58th place with a time of 17:51.60. Senior Connor Waterloo (18:29:80) was the fifth Pilot to cross the finish line. He came in 86th place. Guillian Cardova finished in 123rd place. His time was discarded from the team competition because only the top five players’ times are counted. 

University of San Francisco won the race. Senior Elijah Horwitz from Stuart Hall of San Francisco had the fastest individual time in the meet with a time of 15:58.70.

The SJND women’s team finished 13th, out of 24 teams, in the women’s Div. V competition. Sophomore Emily Perez finished third out of 166 runners. She completed the course in 18:23.70. Sophomore Araceli Zavala came in 45th place with a time of 21:07.10. 

Other runners in SJND’s top five were sophomore Zhane Duckett (22:06.60) who finished in 77th place, junior Beatrice Levy (22:30.70) who finished in 94th place and Maia Charensuphiphat (23:59.90) who finished in 140th place. Freshman Pilot Danielle Perez also competed in event. 

Flintridge Prep of La Canada won the competition. Alex Stout (18:09) of Pacific Collegiate in Santa Cruz had the fastest individual time.