Coleman's Victory Leads Stags to Win; Athenas Finish Fourth
Senior Adam Coleman (Clayton) had never finished higher than fifth on his own team in his first three seasons let alone finish better than that in any meet, but cross country is a sport where success is built on the base of mileage put in during one's career. As one of the team's higher mileage runners he has built a huge base during the last three-plus years and Saturday he achieved his greatest success. He passed two runners in the final 400 meters to win the Lewis & Clark Invitational and led the Stags to the team victory. CMS had 10 of their 12 runners finish in the top 18 overall and beat runner-up Linfield 29-71. The Athenas finished fourth with 85 points, but were just seven points behind second and two points behind third. They were led by Evelyn Ross' (JR, Iowa City, IA) third-place finish.
Coleman set a personal best for the 8000 meter distance by 35 seconds with a time of 25:57. The other scoring members for the Stags included Chris Gurney (JR, Ventura), Asaf Bernstein (SR, Swampscott, MA), Florian Scheulen (SO, Encinitas) and Kris Brown (FR, Seattle, WA). Nine of the 12 Stags set personal bests in the race including Coleman, Bernstein, Scheulen, Brown, Kramer Straube (FR, Menlo Park), Matt Kurtis (SO, Bellingham, WA), Georgi Dinolov (FR, Capitola), Matt Cummins (FR, Riverside) and Alex Kurtis (SO, Bellingham, WA).
Ross also set a personal best for her 6000 meter race with a time of 22:51. The other scorers for the Athenas included Taylor Smiley (FY, Beaverton, OR), Ashley Scott (FR, Battle Creek, MI), Laurie Mittermiller (SO, La Jolla) and Rachael Martin (JR, Pasadena). Nine of the 12 Athenas set personal bests including Ross, Smiley, Scott, Martin, Maureen Golan (FY, Bethesda, MD), Sarah Heine (SR, Sheridan, WY), Sheila Bhardwaj (SO, Pittsburgh, PA), Hannah Lakehomer (SO, Eugene, OR) and Margaret Scheuermann (SR, Katonah, NY).
CMS also competed at the UC Irvine Invitational on Saturday. The men finished 12th out of 20 teams with 338 points. They were led by Brian Kopczynski (FR, Coto De Caza) and Kyle Block (SO, Thousand Oaks). The women only had three runners competing so did not receive a team score.
The team returns to action this Saturday, September 15 at the University of Redlands Invitational.
