Both cross country teams finish fifth at Stanford Invitational

The men's and women's cross country teams both finished fifth among non-Division I teams at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday.  The men scored 138 points and the women scored 146.  In the overall competition, the Stags finished 11th (of 28) with 289 points and the Athenas finished 16th (of 26) with 432 points.  Both teams were running without several of their top runners (3-4-7 for the men and 1-2 for the women) who will compete this coming weekend at the Pre-National meet in Hanover, Indiana.

The Stags ran first and had their best race of the season.  Five of the 10 competitors registered personal bests for 8K (the race was just over 8.2K due to a course marking error) and four others had their best times of the year.  The team was led by Zorg Loustalet who finished 22nd overall with a time of 25:26 (24:44 for 8K).  His finish was the highest by any Division III runner at the meet in at least six years.  The other scorers for the team were Evan Molineux (61st, 26:14 [25:31]), Tyler Robinson (81st, 26:30 [25:46]), Justin Jones (102nd, 26:40 [25:56)] and Nico Banks (111th, 26:49 (26:05)].  Molineux and Robinson recorded personal bests along with Alex Lombardo (27:05 [26:20]), Lucas Van Houten (27:42 [26:56]) and Matt Cook (27:49 [27:03]).  CMS beat 11 of the 16 non-Division I teams including cross-street rival Pomona-Pitzer (6th - 166) and all four of the non-Division I teams ahead of the Stags are nationally ranked in their respective Divisions.

The Athenas beat six of the 11 non-Division I teams including two regionally ranked Division II teams.  All four of the non-Division I teams ahead of them are nationally ranked in their respective Divisions.  The team was led by Lisa Beem.  She finished 64th overall with a time of 23:14 (22:36 for 6K [the women's course was also long]).  Also scoring for the Athenas were Adele Eslinger (94th, 23:42 [23:03]), Tess Williams (106th, 23:48 [23:09]), Carmen Mejia (116th, 23:57 [23:18]) and Rae Brookshire (118th, 24:02 [23:23]).  Personal bests were set by Nicki Maslan (24:06 [23:27]), Rachel Mow (24:26 [23:46]) and Caroline Willian (24:31 [23:51]).

CMS will compete again next Saturday, October 5.  The majority of the team will compete at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational with the men racing at 7:45 and the women following at 8:30.  A group of 11 runners will compete at the Pre-National meet in Hanover.  The women race at 11:00 (Eastern) and the men follow at noon.