Women's Distance Runners Set Personal Bests at Oxy Spring Break Classic

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Occidental Distance Carnival/Spring Break Classic track meet this past weekend was the scene of an incredible performance for the Athenas.  Following a series of relay meets and a conference multi-dual meet, the focus turned to fast times in the 5K at Occidental.  In a meet where there were four heats of the 5,000-meter run, 18 out of the 21 entrants for the Athenas established their all-time personal bests.

Topping the list was sophomore Abby Johnson who ran an extremely fast last 400 (75.1), placing 17th overall out of the 180 participants with a personal best time of 17:36.30, finishing behind Cal Baptist French junior who won with a time of 16:26. Also performing quite well was freshman Riley Harmon from Albany, California, who ran a 17:41.10 in an outstanding performance for her first 5K.

The only race winner for the Athenas came in heat four as sophomore Harvey Mudd student Natasha Crepeau, with a blistering kick, out-leaned the second-place finisher 19:29.53 to 19:30.65.  The time was a PR by 20 seconds for Natasha, with her old best was only established the week prior in a SCIAC dual meet.  By winning the heat, the victory also served as the first race she has won as a college athlete.

The Athenas will head into Spring Break and return to competition on March 30 with a SCIAC Multi-Dual meet at Caltech.