Ryan Carrell and Tiffany Dinh of the Cal Poly Pomona men’s and women’s cross country teams earned selection as the conference’s Runners of the Week of Sept. 12 to Sept. 18.

Competing in the Broncos’ season opener on Saturday at the UC Riverside Invitational, Carrell and Dinh turned in dominating performances.

Carrell, a sophomore from Westminster, finished the 8,000-meter course in 24:28.3. That mark is about 30 seconds faster than his top 2010 time for the same distance and it also stands as the third-fastest time in program history since 2000.

On Saturday, Carrell crossed the line less than a second behind UC Riverside’s second-best runner, while still beating out top finishers from other Division I programs such as Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara. Carrell’s performance helped the Broncos’ men’s squad place 13th overall.

Dinh, a junior from Norwalk, placed sixth out of a field of 167 runners at Saturday’s UCR Invitational. Along the way, she shattered the program record for a 6,000-meter race with a time of 20:54.8. That topped her personal best, set at the 2010 conference championships and also the top all-time best for the Broncos, by more than 42 seconds.

After helping CPP’s women’s cross country team reach the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships for the first time since 1985, Dinh got off the 2011 season off to a strong start as one of seven Broncos placing in the top 100 in the season opener.

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