Cal Poly cross country runners Bilo, Boyal earn Big West weekly awards

Cal Poly sophomore Peyton Bilo was selected Tuesday as the co-Big West Conference Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week for the third time this season.

Bilo finished second at the 43rd annual Stanford Invitational over the weekend, completing the 6K course in 20 minutes, 8.80 seconds. She trailed individual champion Elise Cranny of Stanford by 6.3 seconds.

On the strength of Bilo’s runner-up finish, the Mustangs placed second in the team standings with 46 points, behind only the sixth-ranked Cardinal with 37. Bilo, who garnered Big West Freshman of the Year honors in 2015, has been Cal Poly’s top finisher in eight consecutive races dating back to last season.

Bilo shared the award with Hawaii’s Camille Campos, who finished second at the Capital Cross Challenge.

On the men’s side, Cal Poly senior Swarnjit Boyal earned Big West Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week following his third-place finished at the Stanford Invitational.

Boyal led a contingent of three Mustangs in the top 20, finishing the 8K course in 23:22.80 en route to his second career Big West weekly award. The Yuba City native trailed Stanford freshman and individual winner Thomas Ratcliffe by less than six seconds.

Cal Poly will be back in action Oct. 15, when the team hosts the Cal Poly Invitational at Fairbanks Memorial Cross Country Course in San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs will split into two groups next week, with one team heading to the Adidas Pre-Nationals Invite at Indiana State.

Mustang men’s golf finishes second

Cal Poly men’s golfer Justin De Los Santos finished second individually and helped the Mustangs place fourth Tuesday at the 15-team Nick Watney Invitational held at the San Joaquin Country Club.

De Los Santos carded a 69-70-70—209 to finish four strokes under par at the 54-hole event. He trailed individual medalist Perry Cohen of St. Mary’s by one stroke.

Brigham Young won the team competition with a three-round total of 853. Nevada and St. Mary’s tied for second at 855, followed by Cal Poly (860) and UC Irvine (861).

Other Mustang finishers included Cole Nygren (13th, 215), Grady Smith (31st, 221), Court Lewis (37th, 222) and Jordan Wright (52nd, 225).

Cal Poly is scheduled to compete again at the Bill Cullum Invitational Oct. 17-18 at the Wood Ranch Golf Course in Simi Valley.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Cal Poly cross country runners Bilo, Boyal earn Big West weekly awards."