Cross Country Competes Well in NorCal and SoCal
The CMS cross country teams competed in both Northern and Southern California on Saturday with their top 10 men and women from their previous competition racing at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto while the rest of the team competed across the street at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.
At Stanford, the women finished 11th of 34 teams with 348 points while the men finished 15th of 29 teams with 395 points. The Athenas finished behind eight Division 1 teams (five regionally ranked) and two nationally ranked Division 2 teams and in front of 13 D1 schools, 8 D2 teams and two nationally ranked NAIA teams. The Stags finished behind 10 D1 teams (five regionally ranked), three nationally ranked D2 teams and the top ranked NAIA team and in front of seven D1 schools, six D2 teams and a nationally ranked NAIA team.
The Athenas were again led by the powerhouse duo of Bridget Blum and Sara Mostatabi. They ran together for much of the race and finished 36th and 47th respectively with times of 21:54 and 22:01. The other scorers for the women were Allison Barnwell, Marnie Hogue and Aubrey Zimmerling. Kate Crawford set a personal best of 23:18.1. The Stags were led the seniors Rafer Dannenhauer and Brian Sutter. They finished 65th and 73rd respectively with times of 25:40 and 25:44. Justin Jones, Zorg Loustalet and Sam Pitcavage were the other scorers in 26:08, 26:14 and 26:28. Personal bests were recorded by Jones and Evan Molineux (26:33.6).
At Pomona-Pitzer, CMS hammered out many a personal record on the familiar turf of Pomona's Wash. The women claimed third out of 11 teams with 128 points and were the first among the eight of nine SCIAC teams present. The men came in sixth with a score of 153.
Junior Lisa Beem (pictured) led the Athenas with a stellar race, finishing 16th overall in the 6K with a 36 second personal best of 23:09. Freshman Megan Fuelling came in just after, finishing 19th in 23:20. A tight pack followed: sophomore Danielle Knott (24th in 23:35), senior Alisse Baumgarten (31st in 23:38), freshman Katie Girvan (41st in 23:58), junior Meg O'Keefe (54th in 24:24), freshman Nicki Maslan (60th in 24:35), freshman Rae Brookshire (62nd in 24:42), freshman Kaylee Anderson (65th in 24:46), and junior Allie Rigby, (69th in 24:56). Personal bests were set by all of the freshmen (first 6K) and by Knott, Baumgarten and O'Keefe. Knott and Baumgarten were especially impressive as they both over a minute faster than they did on this course last season.
Freshman Bob Owlett led the Stags, finishing 34th in the 8K with a personal best time of 26:37. "Bob's mom was here," says fellow teammate and Pennsylvania native Lucas Van Houten, "and he ran an inspired race." Freshman Jacob Higle-Ralbovsky came in 40th at 26:45, followed by Van Houten (52nd in 27:00). Finishing close behind were freshman Jack Wilson (53rd in 27:02), senior Brian Conroy (60th in 27:14), junior Dan Maxwell (67th in 27:25), senior Tim Baffi (68th in 27:27), freshman Adam Schiller (77th in 27:36), sophomore Alex Mauro (81st in 27:40), and sophomore Matt Cook (92nd in 28:11). Personal bests were set by Higle-Ralbovsky, Van Houten, Wilson and Schiller as well as Cortland Henderson (28:33), David McCaslin (28:39), Andrew Atwong (28:50), Remington Henderson (29:08), Will Clausen (29:20) and Kent Morrissey (29:52).
CMS will compete again this coming weekend at the Division III Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana. The meet will feature several nationally ranked teams including the Athenas (#5) and Stags (#22).