Aaron Dinzeo established himself as one of the most decorated cross country athletes Cal U has ever seen. He compiled a large set of awards and laurels both on and off the cross country course that no other runner in Vulcan history can say they have accomplished. But now Dinzeo is graduated. It was a day that the program dreaded but now entering the 2015 season, the Vulcans had to move forward without Dinzeo. It has not been easy replacing an individual runner like Dinzeo who could dominate in any race, but this Vulcan Men’s Cross Country team has become stronger together and has set off on a decent start to the season.

    California has competed in three events so far and as a team they recently won the Stockton Osprey Open in New Jersey and saw one of their runners win his first individual title of his career. Senior Morgan Huegel claimed the race by just over one second with a time of 26 minutes, 32.68 seconds. This win for Huegel was good enough to help garner him PSAC Cross Country athlete of the week honors which was last done by Aaron Dinzeo. Huegel ran with Dinzeo for his first three seasons at Cal and now is beginning to establish himself as one of the top runners in the PSAC. In the Osprey Open, Cal claimed the top four spots in the race with Gabe Rees, Neftali Jimenez, and Corbin Padgett rounding out those spots. This shows the core that this team has this season as they look to finish the season strong with a meet at Slippery Rock on October 10th and then the PSAC championships two weeks later.

    The Vulcans look to improve on a fifth place finish from last season at the PSAC Championships and look to have the team to accomplish that this season. Cal’s women’s Cross Country team also has seen impressive individual performances in this 2015 season as well. The team is led by Junior Julie Friend and also redshirt Senior Alex Zanella who missed last season with an injury. In three meets, the team has won the overall title twice and Friend has won the individual title at those two races and also finished second at the St. Vincent Invitational. Friend is picking up right where she left off in her breakout sophomore season after qualifying for the NCAA championships last season.

   The last person to qualify at NCAA championships for the Vulcan women’s cross country team was Zanella a year before that. Zanella looks to finish her Vulcan career strong and presents a dynamic duo with Friend for the rest of the races to close out the season. The women’s team finished 12th at PSAC championships a year ago and now with Zanella back in the frame, the team looks stronger than last season. The Cross Country schedule is entering its final months and seeing the results so far from both teams, it should be an exciting fight to the finish for Vulcans Cross Country.