Santa Clara Men’s Cross Country is your favorite team. Regardless of your prior knowledge on cross country or Santa Clara, you will soon find yourself cheering for the Broncos.
For those unfamiliar, Santa Clara is a private Jesuit school in northern California, with an undergraduate enrollment of just under 6,000. Established in 1851, it is the oldest operating institute of higher learning in the state.
If you’re not well-versed in cross country, it’s an outdoor sport that revolves around long-distance running that is as simple as it sounds. However, it’s not confined to a track. Instead, it unfolds on an outdoor course that typically spans anywhere from 2.5 to 7.5 miles. College programs compete against each other, but also as individuals.
For some reason, athletes who run cross country — and long-distance runners in general — are usually pretty free-spirited. They’re out there. You have to be just a little bit crazy to run 10+ miles a day for most of your entire life, right?
Santa Clara Cross Country is the perfect example!
With the cross country season underway, the Broncos gathered together for their team-specific media day over the summer. And as is tradition for the northern California program, their headshots were wild and crazy! They stepped things up with new team-issued polo shirts this year, however.
Some of them donned mustaches. Others dyed their hair. All of them made hilarious faces.
Here is how the photos turned out:
Not one single runner missed. They all understood the assignment.
Santa Clara is selling t-shirts with the photos on them to support the program because it’s so awesome.
These crazy team photos are one of the best new traditions in college sports, but this year’s photos were miles above last year’s photos. Many of the same cast of characters were winners in 2022 and stepped things up another notch in 2023. The same can be said for the year prior.
Here are how the photos turned out last fall:
Here are how the photos turned out in 2021:
Everything about Santa Clara Men’s Cross Country is perfect. Their headshots are especially awesome. Roll Broncs!