Isabella Brusco Earns SCIAC Newcomer of the Year Award for CMS Women's Cross Country

CLAREMONT, Calif. - First-year Isabella Brusco was named the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's cross country team in a vote of the league's coaches, the SCIAC office announced this morning.

In addition to Brusco's honor, Head Coach John Goldhammer and his staff earned the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year honor, while the ten Athenas who finished in the top 20 at the SCIAC Championships were officially bestowed with All-SCIAC distinction. 

Brusco had an immediate impact for CMS, finishing second on the Athenas at the Biola Invitational in her collegiate debut. She also had top-25 finishes at both the Coyote Challenge and The Master's Invitational in September, and earned All-SCIAC honors with a 13th place finish at the league championships last weekend, the highest-placing first-year runner in the field, six spots ahead of Abigail Loiselle of Pomona-Pitzer. 

CMS had five runners on the All-SCIAC first team with top-10 finishes, and another five who were on the second team by finishing in the 11-20 spots. First-teamers included Riley Harmon, Olivia Gleason, Abigail Johnson, Brooklyn Button and Dulcie Jones. Joining Brusco on the second team were Sophie Gitlin, Georgia Scherer, Emily Clarke and Gabriella Kimmerly. 

The Athenas, who are now ranked No. 10 in the nation in Division III after their SCIAC title, will be back in action next weekend in Claremont for the NCAA West Regionals at the Pomona-Pitzer Cross Country course.