Stags 1st, Athenas 2nd at West Regional; both teams qualify for NCAA Championships
The CMS cross country teams finished first and second at the NCAA West Regional on Saturday and both teams qualified for the NCAA Championships. Running in front of a host of family, friends and alumni in Salem, OR, the Stags, the region's top ranked team, beat #3 Pomona-Pitzer 46-52 in the men's race while the Athenas, ranked second in the region, finished second to top ranked Willamette 31-54 in the women's. CMS became just the second team in region history to have all 14 competitors earn All-Region honors by finishing in the top 35 overall.
The Stags won the region title for the second time in three years and for the sixth time in team history. Zorg Loustalet (HMC JR) led the team with a second place finish. All seven CMS runners earned All-Region runners. Alex Lombardo (CMC SO) was seventh, Alex Mauro (CMC SR) was eighth, Jack Wilson (CMC JR) 11th, Sam Pitcavage (CMC SR) 18th, Garrett Ryan (CMC SO) 22nd and Hunter Olsen (CMC FR) 33rd. Loustalet and Pitcavage both earned All-Region honors for the third time while Mauro earned his second honors. The other four all earned All-Region for the first time in their regional debuts. CMS was the only men's team to have seven All-Region runners. The Stags had the top finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh runners in the race. 19 teams and 119 runners competed in the race
The women had their best race of the season and finished 93 points ahead of third place Whitworth. The Athenas also had all seven runners earn All-Region honors. Bryn McKillop (SCR FR) finished first for the team for the first time in her young career with a fifth place finish. Sara Mostatabi (CMC SR) was sixth, Caroline Willian (CMC SO) 10th, Carmen Mejia (SCR SO) 16th, Jen Lehr (SCR SO) 17th, Taia Wu (SCR SR) 19th, and Kaitlyn Spees (SCR SR) 22nd. Mostatabi became one of only ten runners in region history to finish in the top 10 four times. The other six Athenas all earned All-Region honors for the first time in their regional debuts. CMS had the best 1-7 spread (33 seconds) in the race and the top finishing sixth and seventh runners. 20 teams and 128 runners competed in the race.
Both teams automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships which will take place November 22 in Mason, OH by finishing in the top two. CMS is one of only six programs nationally where both teams will be competing for the seventh straight year. This will be the Athenas' 17th NCAA appearance and the 13th NCAA appearance for the Stags.
