Stanford University’s cross country teams will open their 2025 season at the USF Invitational, set to take place this Friday at Hellman Hollow in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The women’s six-kilometer race is scheduled for 2 p.m., followed by the men’s eight-kilometer race at 3 p.m.
The Cardinal are returning to the USF Invite for the 11th time in 15 seasons, maintaining a five-year streak of appearances. Over their previous ten outings, Stanford has consistently achieved strong results, including individual or team victories. Last year, Stanford secured both the women’s team and individual titles.
Rising junior Sophia Kennedy won her first collegiate cross country race last season with a time of 20:22.2, leading Stanford to sweep all three podium spots and place all five scoring runners within the top seven overall. This marked the program’s third consecutive sweep of both individual and team competitions in the event and was the seventh women’s win in meet history for Stanford.
On the men’s side, Stanford finished fifth last year with 120 points. Seven out of eight runners crossed within 0.3 seconds of each other, finishing between 25th and 31st place overall. Patrick Koon, Josh Bell, and Paul Bergeron—each competing in their first collegiate race—took three of Stanford’s top four team spots.
Returning for the men are four members from last season’s NCAA Championship lineup: Lex Young (Stanford’s top finisher), Leo Young, Nolan Topper, and Paul Bergeron. The men’s squad includes twelve returning athletes and welcomes five newcomers this season.
The women return five runners from last year’s sixth-place NCAA Championship finishers: Amy Bunnage (the reigning NCAA DI West Region Champion), Sophia Kennedy, Riley Stewart, Julia Flynn, and Nicola Hogg. Like the men’s squad, twelve runners return alongside five new additions.
J.J. Clark serves as Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field and Cross Country for Stanford with Ricardo Santos as assistant coach.
In preseason rankings by USTFCCCA NCAA DI National Cross Country Coaches Polls, both Cardinal squads hold sixth nationally. At last year’s NCAA DI West Regionals, Stanford finished second on the women’s side and third on the men’s side; they now rank first (men) and second (women) regionally according to USTFCCCA Preseason West Region Coaches Polls.
Stanford placed second in both men’s and women’s races at last year’s ACC Championships but is predicted to finish third in both categories in this year’s ACC Preseason Coaches Polls.
