Stags and Athenas win SCIAC Championships
The men's and women's cross country teams finished first at the SCIAC Championships at Prado Park on Saturday morning. It marked the third straight season and 11th time in CMS history that the teams swept the titles. The Stags scored 42 points and the Athenas scored 35. This was the 24th title for the women and the 14th title for the men with both teams earning their fifth title in the last six years. The scores of the men's competition were CMS 42, Pomona-Pitzer 49, Occidental 79, Whittier 114, La Verne 146, Redlands 171, Caltech 182, Cal Lutheran 214 and Chapman 262. The women's scores were CMS 35, Pomona-Pitzer 62, Redlands 86, Occidental 125, Whittier 151, Chapman 152, Cal Lutheran 152, La Verne 190 and Caltech 265.
The Prado course, which is always rather slow due to soft ground and long grass, was made even slower by overnight rain which made sections of the course very muddy. It also rained during much of the men's race making it even muddier .
The Stags, ranked second in the region and 22nd nationally, used their superior depth to pull out a close battle with the Sagehens. CMS was down five points through three runners, but had seven runners in front of Pomona-Pitzer's fourth to pull out the seven point win. Zorg Loustalet, Alex Mauro and Alex Lombardo earned First Team All-SCIAC honors by finishing second, sixth and tenth respectively. Loustalet also earned SCIAC Athlete of the Year honors by having the lowest combined finish at the SCIAC Multi-Dual and SCIAC Championships. Five Stags earned Second Team All-SCIAC honors including Jack Wilson (11th), Sam Pitcavage (13th), Hunter Olsen (14th), Garrett Ryan (15th) and Jacob Higle-Ralbovsky (20th). Loustalet, Pitcavage and Higle-Ralbovsky each earned their third straight All-SCIAC honors with the other five all earning the honor for the first time.
The Athenas, ranked second regionally and 14th nationally, used strong front runners and superior depth to dominate the women's race. CMS had three runners in the top six overall and had 11 runners who would have scored for every other team in the conference. Sara Mostatabi finished fourth, Carmen Mejia finished fifth, Caroline Willian finished sixth and Jen Lehr finished ninth. All four runners earned First Team All-SCIAC honors. Six more Athenas earned Second Team All-SCIAC honors including Bryn McKillop (11th), Taia Wu (13th), Kaitlyn Spees (15th), Roselyn Cantu (17th), Anna Shepard (18th) and Rachel Mow (19th). Mostatabi earned First Team honors for the fourth time becoming just the 12th women in SCIAC history to achieve the feat. The other nine Athenas all earned All-SCIAC honors for the first time.
The teams will race again in two weeks at the NCAA West Regional in Salem, OR on November 15. The meet, which serves as a qualifying race for the NCAA Championships, will be held in Bush's Pasture Park with the men racing at 10:00 and women racing at 11:00. Complete meet information can be found at: http://d3xc.com/