Bears Battle At Conference Championships

Garrett MacQuiddy, Carrick Denker earn first all-conference honors.

XC10/27/2023 3:56 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Men Clinch Fifth Place, Women Take Home Eighth Place

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – The California men’s and women’s cross country teams had solid showings at the program’s final appearance at the Pac-12 Championships on Friday morning, highlighted by a pair of top-15 individuals finishers in Garrett MacQuiddy and Carrick Denker on the men’s side.
 
The Golden Bear men clinched a fifth-place team finish out of the nine competing schools, while the women’s squad took an eighth-place finish out of all 12 Pac-12 foes.
 
“Collectively, the teams had good showings,” Cal head coach Bobby Lockhart said.
 
The men’s squad recorded its best team finish since 2011 when the Bears also came in fifth place overall. Cal’s performance this year is a four-place jump from last year’s conference championship final team standings and the best finish under the leadership of Lockhart. The Bears finished with 132 points and a 23:46.54 average, which was just below a full two-second improvement from their last outing at the Bronco Invite on Oct. 14.
 
MacQuiddy and Denker had career days, both notching personal-best times in the 8,000-meter race to take 13th and 14th place, respectively. MacQuiddy ran a 23:18.20 mark and Denker was just behind him with a 23:19.10 time. Their 13th- and 14th-place marks have earned them both a spot on the All-Pac-12 Second Team. MacQuiddy’s 13th place overall is also the highest individual finish at the conference championships for a Bear since Garrett Corcoran’s 13th-place result in 2017.
 
“I am really proud of Garrett MacQuiddy and Carrick Denker for leading the men with their first All-Pac-12 honors,” Lockhart said. “It’s been a four-year climb to this point and watching them run together when it matters most couldn’t make me more proud.”
 
On the women’s side, Amelia Wardle-Stacey made her Pac-12 Championships debut and crossed the line first for the Bears in 36th place overall with a time of 20:28.1. This is the third out of four meets in which the freshman has been the top scorer for the Cal women.
 
Georgia McCorkle was the next scorer for the Bears with her personal-best mark 20:55.8. Claire Yerby snagged 57th place to lift the…