Cross country teams both finish 8-0 at SCIAC Multi-Dual

For the second consecutive season, the Stags and Athenas both finished 8-0 at the SCIAC Multi-Dual meet.  The women had four of the top six individuals and beat the rest of the conference combined by a score of 25-30.  Zorg Loustalet won the men's race and the Stags had three more runners in the top 10.  Racing on Friday afternoon at La Mirada Park, the women won by scores of 15-50 over Caltech, La Verne, Redlands and Whittier, 15-48 over Chapman, 16-45 over Pomona-Pitzer, 19-42 over Occidental and 20-41 over Cal Lutheran.  The men beat Chapman by forfeit and won by a score of 15-50 over Caltech, Cal Lutheran and Redlands, 19-44 over Whittier, 20-41 over La Verne, 23-38 over Occidental and 26-29 over Pomona-Pitzer.

The women dominated the race from the gun and had four in the top six for most of the race.  Allison Barnwell and Sara Mostatabi were in the top four the entire time and finished second and third overall.  Adele Eslinger has perhaps her best race in an Athena uniform as she moved up through the field the entire race and finished fifth overall.  Lisa Beem finished sixth, four spots better than her finish at this race last year.  Tess Williams was the Athenas' fifth and final scorer in ninth place.  CMS had 11 of the top 22 overall in the race.

Loustalet's time of 25:24.9 shattered the course record of 25:47 set by Will Leer, a four-time national champion in track, in 2006.  In the seven years this particular course setup has been used, only two athletes had broken 26:00 previously.  Loustalet led almost the entire race and pulled away from John Guzman of Occidental over the final 400 meters to win by just over two seconds.  Jon Briskman, Sam Pitcavage and Nico Banks finished eighth, ninth and tenth overall.  Briskman ran all, but 50 meters of the race with one shoe after he was stepped on just after the start.  Pitcavage and Banks both beat the third and fourth runners from Pomona-Pitzer to give the Stags key points in the win over their strong Sixth Street rivals.  Tyler Robinson was the fifth scorer for CMS and he led a pack of five Stags finishing within just over four seconds from 16th to 21st.

Both teams will race again on November 2 at the SCIAC Championships.  The race will be at Prado Regional Park in Chino.  The women will race at 9:00 with the men following at 9:45.