Cross country teams sweep SCIAC titles for second straight year
The men's and women's cross country teams finished first at the SCIAC Championships at Prado Park on Saturday morning. It marked the second straight season and tenth time in CMS history that the teams swept the titles. The Athenas scored 31 points and the Stags scored 51. This was the 23rd title for the women and the 13th title for the men with both teams earning their fourth title in the last five years. The scores of the women's competition were CMS 31, Occidental 54, Cal Lutheran 78, Pomona-Pitzer 92, Redlands 134, Whittier 179, Chapman 188, Caltech 218 and La Verne 224. The men's scores were CMS 51, Pomona-Pitzer 57, Occidental 60, La Verne 91, Whittier 120, Caltech 184, Redlands 194 and Cal Lutheran 204.
The Athenas, ranked first regionally and seventh nationally, used strong front runners and superior depth to dominate the women's race. CMS had four runners in the top seven overall and had 12 runners who would have scored for every other team in the conference. Adele Eslinger, who led the team with her second place finish, was the first Athena finisher for the first time in her career. Allison Barnwell finished third, Sara Mostatabi finished fifth and Lisa Beem finished seventh. All four runners earned First Team All-SCIAC honors by finishing in the top 10. Three more Athenas earned Second Team All-SCIAC honors by finishing 11th - 20th. Nicki Maslan finished 14th, Meghan Fuelling finished 15th and Rae Brookshire finished 19th.
The Stags, ranked first in the region and 22nd nationally, used their superior depth to pull out a close battle with the Sagehens and Tigers. CMS was down seven points through three runners, but put six runners before the next Occidental runner and three in front of Pomona-Pitzer's fifth to pull out the six point win. Zorg Loustalet and Jon Briskman earned First Team All-SCIAC honors by finishing third and eighth respectively. Five Stags earned Second Team All-SCIAC honors including Jacob Higle-Ralbovsky (11th), Sam Pitcavage (13th), Tyler Robinson (17th), Colin Briskman (18th) and Evan Molineux (20th). Higle-Ralbovsky had the team's best performance of the day as he improved 20 places from his SCIAC Multi-Dual finish two weeks ago.
The teams will race again in two weeks at the NCAA West Regional in Claremont on November 16. The meet, which serves as a qualifying race for the NCAA Championships, will be held in the Pomona College Wash with the women racing at 9:00 and men racing at 10:15. Complete meet information can be found at: http://d3xc.com/
