Olivia Gleason - Women's Cross Country

CLAREMONT, Calif. - There were many strong performances from the CMS cross country teams as they swept the SCIAC Championships on Saturday, and junior Olivia Gleason provided one of them, earning her highest-ever finish for the Athenas (second) to help her team to its 10th league title in a row.

CMS came into the race facing a stiff challenge from Pomona-Pitzer to keep its streak of SCIAC titles alive and sweep the decade of the 2010s. The Sagehens were ranked higher in the regional and national polls, and earned a narrow head-to-head win over CMS at The Master's Invitational in a 5K race (the SCIAC Championship was a 6K race).

The Athenas met the challenge, though, using their depth to take a 27-point victory. After Pomona-Pitzer earned the top two finishers, CMS had nine runners cross before the third Sagehen. Gleason helped set the pace for a pack of Athenas, as five straight CMS runners crossed between seventh and 11th place, with Gleason the No. 2 runner on the team in seventh place, finishing in 22:40.2.

Gleason had been one of the top five scorers for CMS several times this season, including twice as the team's fourth-place finisher and twice as the fifth-place, but the second-place finish at SCIACs marked her highest finish in his career. A year ago, she was the 10th-fastest CMS runner at the SCIAC Championships and 21st overall, making a big leap forward to second and seventh, respectively. 

Gleason and the Athenas will be back in action in Claremont again on Nov. 16 for the NCAA West Regionals at the Pomona-Pitzer Cross Country Course.