Nov. 20, 2004

The Pacific Tigers cross country team, led by first year head coach Wesley Stolp, saw significant improvement from recent years in 2004. The Tigers had record-breaking feats (three athletes broke the school record in a 5K), accomplished personal bests and collected the first victory over a DI opponent in program history.

One of the brightest spots of the season came in the San Francisco State Invitational on Oct. 2nd as sophomore Jessica Daley (Antioch, Calif.), freshman Ainsley Cray (Rhinelander, Wisc.), and sophomore Jill Himlan (Santa Cruz, Calif.) each eclipsed the former 5K record of 19:46 set by Cynthia Krieger in 1999. Daley led the Tigers trio, finishing with a time of 19:04.7, while Cray and Himlan finished at 19:25, and 19:32 respectively.

Daley not only set the 5K record but also came with in two seconds of setting the record for a 6K with a time of 23:15.3 in the Big West Championships on October 30th. Daley's mark was just short of the 23:13 posted by Katie Beck (Engel) in 2001 at the San Francisco State Invite.

In the Tigers four invitational meets prior to the Big West Championship, Pacific finished ahead of at least one team during each meet. One of those included finishing ahead of a D-I school for the first time in program history as the Tigers finished in eighth place ahead of Sacramento State at the USF Invitational on September 4th.

Stolp watched his Tigers finish with faster times and better individual placements in the Big West Championships than in the last three years. With all these accomplishments the Tigers look to have an even better time next season, as the Tigers lose only senior Kiyomi Urbas (Basking Ridge, N.J.) to graduation.

"The goal this off season is to get our athletes in better condition, so that they are ready to take their performance to the next level," said Stolp.