DMR Team Finishes Third at Nationals for CMS Women's Track and Field

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's distance medley relay team of Riley Capuano, Shriya Velichala, Laura Zimmer and Natalie Bitetti came into the NCAA Division III Championships as the No. 11 seed, but vastly exceeded expectations, earning All-America honors with a third-place finish that saw them come within less than a half-second of the national title.

The Athenas finished with a time of 11:34.84, which was just .31 behind Worcester Polytechnic Institute's team that crossed in 11:34.53, with Central College coming in second in 11:34.73. It was a three-team battle at the finish line, as MIT was over two seconds behind in fourth in 11:37.07. 

Bitetti closed strong for the Athenas, as she took the baton in sixth place and ran her 1600-meter leg in 4:48.53 to pass WashU, MIT, Chicago and Johns Hopkins to move CMS up from sixth to third. 

The Athenas' time trimmed nine seconds off their qualifying time of 11:43.04, which they achieved at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 10.

Bitetti will be back at it tomorrow, when she runs the 3000 meters as the No. 3 seed. She will look to add another All-America trophy to her mantle after finishing second in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the fall (Capuano also finished 11th in the fall to earn All-America as well).