January 6, 2009
Women's Cross Country Receives Four All-Conference Honors - Boothe Named DIII Independents Co-Coach of the Year

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- The 2008 Women’s Cross Country season has proved to be one of the most successful running seasons in the programs young history. Recently the program received four All-Conference honors from the Association of Division III Independents. At the top of the list was Head Coach Adam Boothe, who was named the women’s co-coach of the year, sharing the honors with Judy Hawkins (University of Dallas). (more)

November 21, 2008
Murphy and Hendricks Qualify for NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- On Saturday 11/15 the UCSC Women's Cross Country team competed at the NCAA DIII West Region Championships in Salem, OR. The team finished 7th overall, their highest finish in program history. That finish was due in no small part to the performances the Slugs' top two runners, Mikayla Murphy (So, San Luis Obispo, CA) and Carina Hendricks (Sr, Santa Rosa, CA). Both runners qualified individually for the 2008 NCAA DIII National Cross Country Championships to be held this Saturday 11/22 in Hanover, IN. (more)

October 28, 2008
Murphy Leads Slugs in Shoreline Open

MOUNTAIN VIEW , CA -- The Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz wrapped up their regular season on Saturday at the Shoreline Open, a mostly post-collegiate race, in Mountain View, CA. As a NCAA DIII Independent, the Slugs have no conference meet in the weeks preceding the West Region Championships. This race acted as their finale before the Regional meet in three weeks. (more)

October 21, 2008
No. 6 Ranked Slugs Run Well at Bronco Invitational

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA -- After shaking up their schedule, the Slugs ran in what ended up being the largest collegiate cross country meet on the West Coast this past weekend. The Bronco Invitational, in only it's third year, was once again very competitive. As the lone NCAA DIII team in the race, the UC Santa Cruz women finished 13th overall in the Women's Invitational 5k. 12 of the 17 teams in the field were NCAA DI programs, with Long Beach State taking the team title over host Santa Clara. (more)

October 9, 2008
Slugs Travel to Oregon to Compete in Charles Bowles Invite

SALEM, OR -- Mikayla Murphy (So, San Luis Obispo, CA) once again led the way for the Slugs on Saturday at the Charles Bowles Invite hosted by Willamette University. Murphy traded the lead with Willamette's Maddie Coffman for the last mile of the Women's Cardinal 5k race, eventually finishing second overall in a school record 17:41.46. Murphy took 27.26 seconds off her previous best of 18:07.80. The Slugs finished 12th out of 28 teams in what is perennially the largest DIII meet in the West. Six out of the eight Slugs that raced ran lifetime bests for 5k. (more)

October 6, 2008
Murphy Receives Another Association of Division III Independents Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week Honor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - University of California-Santa Cruz junior Mikayla Murphy (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) is this week's Association of Division III Independents women's cross country Runner of the Week. The Slug ran to a second place finish out of 300 runners at the Willamette Invite over the weekend. Her personal best 5K time of 17:41 came in a field of half Div. II and half Div. III runners.

September 15, 2008
Murphy receives Association of Division III Independents Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week Honor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ' University of California-Santa Cruz sophomore Mikayla Murphy (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) is this week's Association of Division III Independents women's cross country Runner of the Week. Murphy picked up her second win in as many weeks, providing a course record time of 22:36 on the University of Redlands 6K course. The time matches her 6K school record set last year and ultimately helped her stay undefeated against Div. III competition.

The UC Santa Cruz Women's Cross Country team had another strong showing in Southern California over the weekend. The Slugs finished third, behind Pomona-Pitzer, and Claremont(#26 in NCAA Div. III), with 86 points.

The Slugs were led by Sophomore standout Mikayla Murphy, who won for the second week in a row in a course record 22:36 on the University of Redlands campus 6k course. The time matches her 6k school record set last year at the Gator Invite. After staying with the leaders over the first mile of the course, Murphy pulled away for a twenty five second victory. (more)

SANTA CRUZ, CA- The 2008 pre-seaon rankings has been released and UCSC Women's Cross Coutnry has found themselves with their highest ranking in the programs history. The Slugs are ranked 5th in the West Region this year behind Willamette, Whitman, Claremont, and Occidental. They finished the 2007 season 9th in the West Region which was the highest ranking they have received after a historic season. The Slugs will open up thier season on Saturday, August 30th at the USF Invitational in San Francisco at 9:15am. (rankings)

UC Santa Cruz will open it's 2008 Cross Country campaign on Saturday August 30^th at the University of San Francisco Invitational at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Banana Slugs open the season ranked fifth in the NCAA DIII West Region Coaches Poll. The Slugs added depth and experience to a team that was better then their 9th place finish at last year's West Region Championship in Oregon. The Slugs have achieved their highest-ever ranking while staying young; Carina Hendricks and Miriam Hartig are the only seniors on this year's squad. (more)