Riley Harmon Earns National Athlete of the Week Honors from USTFCCCA

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After winning the individual title at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational, Riley Harmon captured the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division III Athlete of the Week for events through Sunday, Oct. 10.

In addition to her national honor, Harmon also became the fourth different Athena to win the SCIAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week honor this fall, joining Emily Clarke (Sept. 7), Meredith Bloss (Sept. 21) and Natalie Bitetti (Oct. 4). 

Harmon led CMS to its second straight team championship, after the Athenas also won the Division III Pre-Nationals last weekend, when Bitetti was the highest finisher on the team. Harmon finished with a time of 21:27.4 to lead a 1-2-3 finish for CMS, with Bloss finishing three seconds behind in 21:30.4 and Bitetti crossing the line in 21:36.3 in third place. Sophie Gitlin earned a fifth-place finish, while Clark was seventh and Angela Gushue was eighth, giving CMS six of the top 10. 

When Harmon last competed in 2019, she had a big sophomore year, finishing third in the SCIAC Championships and fourth at the NCAA West Regionals, before earning All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Championships with a 36th place finish. She was poised for a big junior season before the pandemic canceled athletics in the fall of 2020, but has gotten back to her old form with her first individual title of the 2021 campaign. 

CMS will be back in action at the end of the month, when it returns to the same Pomona-Pitzer course to compete at the 2021 SCIAC Championships, hoping to win its 11th league title in a row, dating back to the 2010 season.