2023 SCHEDULE
 
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The Cal Poly cross country program released its full 2023 schedule Monday, featuring an in-season trip to the site of this year's NCAA Championships and the Mustangs hosting the Big West Championship meet for the sixth time in program history.
 
Cal Poly opens its conference championship title defense on Friday, Sept. 1, when the Mustangs host the Big West Preview at the Blacklake Golf Resort in Nipomo. Most of the Big West teams are expected to participate in the meet. The event will mark the first time since 2016 that Cal Poly has hosted a cross country meet.
 
Following their home meet, the team heads back to the site of their 2022 Big West Championship sweep on Saturday, Sept. 16, to take part in the UC Riverside Invitational at UCR's Ag/Ops Course. Last year, Cal Poly captured the men's team title at the meet and finished second on the women's side.
 
The following week, the Mustangs travel to the Pacific Northwest to compete in the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by Oregon on Friday, Sept. 22, at the Pine Ridge Golf Club.
 
Cal Poly will split the squad between a pair of meets on Saturday, Oct. 14, during its final weekend of regular season competition. The Mustangs will send their top runners to Charlottesville, Virginia, to race in the XC23 Invitational, which is serving as this year's NCAA Pre-Nationals meet. Last fall, the Cal Poly men got a sneak peek of the Panorama Farms course — the site of the 2023 NCAA Championships — and had an impressive showing, capturing sixth as a team in the XC23 Invitational. The rest of the squad will head to Baylands Regional Park to participate in the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara.
 
The Blacklake Golf Resort will serve as the site of this year's Big West Championships, marking the first time in a decade the Mustangs will host the conference meet. The Big West Championship will be held on Friday, Oct. 27, and the last time Cal Poly had the home-course advantage in the Big West meet in 2013, the program swept the men's and women's titles at Fairbanks Cross Country Course. The Mustangs will look to do the same this fall and accomplish the conference sweep for the seventh time and for the second straight year.
 
In 2022, the Mustang men cruised to the Big West title claiming the top three spots in the race and five of the top 10, and finishing with 22 team points — the best mark at the meet since 2016. Three of the runners that earned All-Big West honors last year — Will Fallini-Haas (second), Aidan McCarthy (third) and Anthony Guerra (sixth) — are back this season.
 
On the women's side, Cal Poly stunned the rest of the conference edging out UC Irvine by one point in the closest finish in the history of The Big West Championships to raise their sixth Big West trophy. Six of the nine runners that competed in the meet return this season — Julia Heckey, Tatiana Cornejo, Carissa Buchholz, Nina St. John, Riley Cash and Ellie Baxter. Heckey secured All-Big West honors by capturing third individually while Cornejo won Big West Women's Freshman of the Year, taking home 14th.
 
Following the conference meet, the Mustangs make the trip north to Sacramento to compete in the NCAA West Regional on Friday, Nov. 10. At last year's regional, the men earned their best finish at the meet since 2013 by grabbing seventh while the women secured 11th, their best result in four years.
 
The NCAA Championship meet is set for Saturday, Nov. 18, at Virginia's Panorama Farms.
 
On top of their key returners, the Mustang men are looking for their 12 newcomers to step up, including LSU transfer Davis Bove. The women have nine newcomers, highlighted by Wake Forest transfer Hana Catsimanes.