Video Tribute: The CMS Women's Track and Field Class of 2021

As part of NCAA Division III week (Apr. 5-11), we will be honoring the senior classes for all 21 of our varsity sports. A number of our student-athletes elected to take a semester or a school year off and could return to action next season, but we have chosen to honor the senior classes as they would have been, without the COVID-19 interruption. The members of the Class of 2021 lost so much of what they had built towards in their first 2-3 years of competition when the pandemic hit, but still clearly left their mark on CMS Athletics.

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The CMS Women's Track and Field Class of 2021 kept alive the program's streak of SCIAC titles with championships in 2018 and 2019, and it took everyone's contributions to take the 2019 one, as the Athenas edged Redlands by just three points at the Burns Track Complex (150-147).

By contrast, the SCIAC title that the Class of 2021 won as first-years was a much simpler endeavor. With three eventual national champions (Tyra Abraham, Emily Bassett, Bryn McKillop) on the squad, the Athenas scored 46 more points than any other conference school on their way to their fourth straight crown. Those senior national champions graduated, though, and Redlands came into the SCIACs ranked No. 3 in the nation, looking to take the conference trophy back out of Claremont. CMS showed its championship resolve, though, taking the team title by just three points, despite only earning two individual championships over the two-day meet. 

CMS was showing promise in the early part of the 2020 campaign that it might extend its streak to six straight championships, with the Athenas easily winning their first SCIAC Multi-Dual, but the cancelation of sports in March left CMS with just a 2-0 conference record to show for its efforts. 



The 11 track and field only members of the CMS Class of 2021 are as follows (note: the 13 senior distance runners were honored on Tuesday in our cross country tribute video and their bios are below):

Julia Catolico (Jumps, Saratoga, Calif. - CMC, Science Management)
Catolico finished in 11th place in the triple jump at the 2019 SCIAC Track and Field Championships as a sophomore, earning a top distance of 24'2.75" (10.43 meters). Her top triple jump of her sophomore season came at the San Diego State Aztec Invitational at 34'8.25", while she came in fifth place in the event at the second SCIAC Multi-Dual of the regular season. As a first-year she competed in both the long jump and the triple jump at the SCIAC Championships and had a high finish of seventh during the regular season in the triple jump at the second SCIAC Multi-Dual. A science management major with a minor in biotechnology, Catolico is a SCIAC All-Academic Team selection and has worked as a student consultant with Pfizer since September, as well as a growth marketing intern with Ready, Set, Food! and a lab technology assistant at CMC.

Julia Drooff (Sprints, Annapolis, Md. - Scripps, Media Studies/Digital Art)
Drooff is one of several Athenas who can take personal pride in the 2019 SCIAC title, as her PR in the 400 (1:00.62) earned her a sixth-place finish and gave CMS three points in a meet it won 150-147. During the regular season, she finished second, third and fourth in the 400 in the three SCIAC Multi-Duals. As a junior, she was off to a strong start, finishing second in the 400 at the OIDFE Challenge hosted by CMS, and earning a third palce finish at the five-team SCIAC Multi-Dual that concluded the season. A media studies and digital art major at Scripps, she was a SCIAC All-Academic Team selection for the Athenas, and has spent the last year as an intern and part-time assistant for the J.C. Calderon Architechture and Design Studio. On campus she was a designer for the Scripps College Journal and a mentor coordinator. 

Aubrey Egerter (Sprints/Hurdles, Oakland, Calif. - HMC, Engineering)
In two seasons with CMS, Egerter was able to move into fifth place in program history in the 100-meter hurdles and also cracked the top 10 with a 4x100 relay team that ranks eighth. She scored in two individual events at the 2019 SCIAC Championship to provide CMS with four points, earning sixth in the 100 hurdles in 14.84 (a PR) and adding an eighth-place finish in the long jump with another PR of 5.30 meters (17'4.75"), while also contributing to a 4x100 relay team that finished second. She competed with athletes from all divisions as a junior at the Nike Indoor Invitational at Boise State, finishing seventh in the long jump. Egerter is a SCIAC All-Academic Team selection as an engineering major at Harvey Mudd, where she has served as a head machine shop proctor, managing a team of 40 students. She has also had summer two engineering internships with KAV Helmets and Applied Materials. 

Amanda Gallop (Throws, Reno, Nev. - Scripps, Engish/Claremont Graduate University)
Gallop was one of the members of the Class of 2020 who had her senior year cut short, and after graduating from Scripps in May with a degree in English, she elected to pursue a graduate degree at CGU in order to get her final season back. She currently places ninth in school history in the shot put (37'8.75"). She scored in two events in the SCIAC Championships in 2019, including a fourth-place finish in the javelin and a seventh-place finish in the shot put, providing CMS seven points in its three-point win. She also has fifth (shot put) and seventh-place (javelin) finishes at SCIACs as a sophomore, and an eighth-place finish in the javelin as a first-year. A SCIAC All-Academic Team selection as an English major at Scripps, Gallop's senior thesis was called on A Sermon Writ In High Heaven: Astrology and Interpretation in Moby-Dick. 

Danielle Honan (Sprints, Louisville, Colo. - CMC, Applied Mathematics and Philosophy)
Honan returned to the CMS track and field team in 2020 after missing her sophomore season, and managed to compete in two events before the suspension of spring sports. In her second event, she helped her 4x100 relay team to a fifth-place finish at the CMS Rossi Relays. As a first-year in 2018, she was part of two 4x100 winning relays in SCIAC Multi-Duals, and had a fourth place finish in one of them in the 100 with a PR of 12.63. A dual major in applied mathematics and philosophy at Claremont McKenna, Honan has been involved on campus as a mentor at the Quantitative Computing Lab, with film photography, and as an Outdoor Initiative club leader. She has served as a research fellow with the Arthur R. Adams Fellowship in International Strategic Studies and a summer research fellow with the RAND Corporation. 

Deyana Marsh (Sprints/Hurdles, Middleton, Mass. - HMC, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Marsh is an All-SCIAC performer, earning all-league honores in the 4x400 relay as a first-year for the Athenas, when her quartet finished in second place. She also qualified for the finals in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.48. As a sophomore, Marsh moved into the top 10 in CMS history in the heptathlon, picking up 3579 points at the San Diego State Aztec Open, including a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles (15.50). As a junior she competed in four meets before spring sports were suspended, including a PR in the 400 hurdles (1:06.53) to place second at a five-team SCIAC Multi-Dual. A SCIAC All-Academic Team selection as a mathematics and computer science major at Harvey Mudd, Marsh has held an engineering internship at Gusto, an online platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. 

Bailey Mknelly (Hurdles/Jumps, Davis, Calif. - Scripps, Environmental Analysis)
Mknelly had the distinction of winning her final event before the shutdown of sports in 2020, setting a new PR in the high jump (5'0.25") to take first place in a five-team SCIAC Multi-Dual in March. She also set a PR in the 400 in the brief 2020 campaign to earn a fourth-place finish at the CMS OIDFE Challenge in January. In the 2019 SCIAC Championships, she set new PRs in both hurdles events, qualifying for the finals and finishing eighth in the 400 hurdles with a 1:06.54, while adding an 11th place finish in the 100 hurdles (15.97). As a first-year she earned a sixth-place finish in the hepathlon at the Claremont Classic. A SCIAC All-Academic Team selection with a major in environmental analysis, Mknelly interned last summer with the California Natural Resources Agency and has been involved at Scripps with Rooftop Garden and leading environmental education sessions with middle and high school aged kids. 

Grace Pratt (Sprints, Exeter, N.H. - CMC, Neuroscience)
Pratt was part of an All-American 4x100 relay team as a first-year, setting a new school record with a 46.48 to win a SCIAC Championship and finishing eighth at nationals. As a sophomore, her performance in the sprints was a key factor in the SCIAC Championship in 2019. She anchored a 4x100 relay that came in second place, finishing just one-tenth of a second out of third place. She also had a fourth-place finish in the 100 in a new PR of 12.36, a fourth-place finish in the long jump (5.55 meters) and a seventh-place finish in the 200 in another PR (25.75), providing CMS with 12 points in its three-point win. In the fall, she also played center back for a CMS women's soccer team that won an NCAA Regional championship. A neuroscience major at CMC, she did her senior thesis on CRISPR-Cas9 Delivery Systems and the Blood-Brain Barrier: Potential for Graphene Oxide-mediated CRISPR Cas9/sgRNA delivery to Glioblastoma Cells

Ariel Sepulveda (Pole Vault, Eastvale, Calif. - CMC, Economics and Engineering)
Sepulveda competed in the pole vault for two season with the Athenas, and then in four meets of her junior year before the pandemic put sports on hold. She was the top finisher for CMS in the pole vault at the 2018 SCIAC Championships as a first-year, clearing 10 feet (10'0.75") to come in seventh place. She was also in the top five in all three regular season SCIAC Multi-Duals. She came in ninth place at SCIACs as a sophomore and was off to a strong start to her junior year with a second-place and third-place finish. An economics and engineering major at Claremont McKenna, she has been a first-year programs intern on campus, managing 18 retreats for incoming students, and served as a resident advisor on campus during the 2020-21 academic year.

Mia Syme (Middle Distance, Seattle, Wash. - CMC, Physics and Mathematics)
A two-sport athlete, Syme ran the 1500 meters for the track and field team with limited training after typically busy winter seasons with the CMS swimming team. She had her best time in the 1500 at the 2019 SCIAC Championships, clocking a 5:02.72 to earn 14th place. In her one race of her junior season, she was off to a strong start with a 5:04.02 in a five-team SCIAC Multi-Dual, finishing eighth. Syme's success in swimming usually kept her in the pool until late March, where she qualified for nationals as both a first-year and a sophomore. She is a four-time SCIAC Champion, sweeping the 500 and the 1650 as both a first-year and as a sophomore, holds the school record in the 500 free (4:57.37) and ranked second in CMS history in both the 1000 free and the 1650 free.  A physics and mathematics major at Claremont McKenna, she serves as a Quantitative and Computing Lab mentor at CMC. 

Carolyn Weisman (Jumps, Santa Barbara, Calif. - CMC, Environmental Analysis)
In two seasons, Weisman put her name in the CMS top 10 lists in two events, placing seventh in the triple jump (37'8.25") and contributing to a 4x100 relay team that ranks ninth (48.44). She earned a fourth-place finish in the triple jump at the 2019 SCIAC Championships (37'1.25") giving CMS five points in a meet they won by only three. She then set a new PR seven inches further at the Redlands Final Qualfying Meet two weeks later, moving her into the top 10. As a first-year, she had three top-10 finishes at her first SCIAC Multi-Dual, but an injury prevented her from competing in the SCIAC Championships. A SCIAC All-Academic Team and a USTFCCCA All-Academic selection as an environmental analysis major, Weisman has worked for the environmental health services department in Santa Barbara County and interned with the Global Women's Water Initiative as a data analyst. 

The 13 distance runners honored on Tuesday in our cross country tribute video are as follows:

Samantha Baker (Windsor, Calif. - Scripps, English)
Baker was a top-10 finisher in the 10000 meters in the SCIAC Track and Field championships in the spring of 2019 to score for the Athenas and contribute towards the narrow conference championship. In cross country season, she ended up in the top 30 (28) out of 118 runners in the 2019 SCIAC Championships with a time of 23:50.4. She  She had six top-35 finishes in cross country over her last two seasons, with a high of 22nd at the 2018 Cougar Challenge. An English major at Scripps, she has earned SCIAC All-Academic Team honors, has volunteered with the Redwood Empire Food Bank and served as a full-time member of Americorps' Northwest Youth Corps in 2020, completing conservation projects. 

Meghan Bobrowsky (Davis, Calif. - Scripps, History/Politics)
Borbrowsky was returning to the CMS cross country and track and field teams as a senior after studying abroad. In 2018, she qualified for the finals of the 1500 meters at the SCIAC Track and Field Championships, earning a tenth place finish with a time of 5:01.14, and had three top-10 finishes in the regular season in SCIAC Multi-Duals, while also contributing to a 4x800 relay win at the Rossi Relays. In cross country, she earned a 27th place finish out of over 100 competitors at the 2017 Championships. A SCIAC All-Academic team selection as a history/politics major at Scripps, she has served as an editor for The Student Life, and had internships with the Sacramento Bee and Miami Herald. 

Natasha Crepeau (Missoula, Mont. - HMC, Mathematics)
Crepeau finished in the top half at the SCIAC Cross Country Championships as both a sophomore and junior. She ran a 5K at the Coyote Challenge in under 20 minutes, finishing in 19:37.5 as a junior and had a PR of 19:29.53 in the 5000 during track and field season at the 2019 Occidental Distance Carnival. A mathematics major at Harvey Mudd, she aspires to be a college professor one day and is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Washington, with interests in graph theory and algebraic combinatorics. She spent the summer (2018) teaching at EXPLO in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and has also been involved at the Claremont Colleges with BLAM and the Pomona College Band.

Lara Cunningham (Old Chatham, N.Y. - Scripps)
Cunningham had just transferred in to Scripps and began to compete with the CMS track and field team in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and sidetracked her Athena career (although she plans to compete in the fall). She competed in two events for CMS, running in the 3000 at the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers meet and then finishing in 10th place in the 40000 in a five-team SCIAC Multi-Dual. Prior to CMS, she attended Trinity College in Connecticut, where she was a member of the cross country team, finishing 33rd at the Trinity Bantam Invitational in 2018.

Olivia Gleason (Long Beach, Calif. - Scripps, Politics)
Gleason came in sixth in the 1500 during the SCIAC Track and Field Championships, earning three points to help the Athenas to a three-point victory over Redlands. In cross country, she was a First-Team All-SCIAC and All-West Region selection as a junior in 2019, when she helped the Athenas sweep the SCIAC and NCAA West titles. She finished seventh at the conference championships in 22:40.2, and followed that up with a tenth place finish at the regionals. She was also a second-team All-SCIAC selection in 2017, when she finished 19th at the SCIAC Championships and finished in the top 30 in all six of her races. A SCIAC All-Academic Team selection as a politics major at Scripps, she served as an intern for Councilwoman Suzie Price in her hometown of Long Beach and was worked as a career consultant on campus.

Sarah Halvorsen (Houston, Texas - HMC, Mathematical and Computational Biology)
Halvorsen had a 16th place finish in the 1500 at the SCIAC Track and Field Championships in 2019 and had two top-10 finishes in regular season SCIAC Multi-Duals, coming in eighth in the 1500 and eighth in the 5000. She has also competed in the SCIAC Championships in all three of her seasons, earning 50th place out of 118 as a sophomore in 2018. A mathematical and computational biology major at Harvey Mudd, she is currently looking to pursue professional opportunities as a lab technician and/or data scientist. 

Delaney Hartmann (Portland, Ore. - Scripps, Biology and Cognitive Science)
Hartmann had a strong showing at the 2018 SCIAC Track and Field Championships, coming in fifth place in the 10000 meters to contribute four points to the team's championship-winning total. She finished in the top half of the most recent SCIAC Cross Country Championship in 2019, coming in 51st out of 118. As a first-year, she came in 15th at the Biola Invitational in her collegiate cross country debut. A SCIAC All-Academic Team selection as a biology and cognitive major at Scripps, Hartmann has spent this past gap year as a maternal and child health ambassador for Birthing Project USA.

Abigail Johnson (Bellingham, Wash. - Scripps, Legal Studies)
Johnson was one of two Athenas to earn an individual championship at the 2019 SCIAC Track and Field Championships, taking first place in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:39.81. She had a busy conference weekend, also scoring in the 5000 (fifth) and 800 (sixth) to provide 17 points to the Athenas (who won by just three). She also earned first-team All-SCIAC and USTFCCCA All-West Region honors all three years while competing in cross country for the Athenas. She has a high finish of fourth at the SCIAC Championships as a sophomore, while also adding top-10s in eighth as a first-year and as a junior. A legal studies major at Scripps, Johnson has earned SCIAC All-Academic Team honors, served as an immigration casework intern, and spend the spring semester in 2020 studying human rights in Argentina. 

Dulcie Jones (Lake Oswego, Ore. - Scripps, Biology)
Jones had a sixth-place finish in the 10000 meters at the SCIAC Track and Field Championships in the spring of 2019, providing three key points to the Athenas in their three-point SCIAC title. She has also earned USTFCCCA All-West Region honors all three seasons for the cross country team, while winning first-team All-SCIAC honors as a junior and sophomore, after second-team honors as a sophomore. She finished eighth at SCIAC Cross Country Championships as a sophomore and tenth as a junior, and has been in the top 15 at the West Regionals the last two seasons as well. A biology major at Scripps, she has been a research assistant at the Keck Science Department, and has earned SCIAC All-Academic team honors. 

Sophie Liles (Plano, Texas - Scripps, Psychology/Anthropolgy)
Liles reached the finals of the 1500 meters at the SCIAC Track and Field Championships both seasons she competed, finishing 12th as a sophomore and 11th as a first-year. In cross country season, she came in 41st place at the 2018 SCIAC  Championships (out of 118) after earning two top-30 finishes in the regular season at the Cougar Challenge and the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.  A psychology and anthropology dual major at Scripps, she has been a SCIAC All-Academic team honoree every year, and has spent the last year as a contract tracer with the Indiana State Department of Health. She has also served as a research assistant in the the Neuropsychology of Decision-Making lab in Claremont. 

Jackie McVay (Bainbridge Island, Wash. - Scripps, Molecular Biology)
McVay scored for the Athenas in the 2018 SCIAC Track and Field Championships as well, when she had a strong showing by coming in sixth in the steeplechase. In cross country, she was a second-team All-SCIAC selection as a sophomore, when she earned a 19th place finish (of 118) in a time of 24:43.8. She also had top 20 finishes at the Cougar Challenge (15th) and Pomona-Pitzer Invitational (19th) as a sophomore and came in the top 25 as a junior at both the UC San Diego Triton Classic (23rd) and the Coyote Challenge (24th).  A molecular biology major at Scripps, she is a SCIAC All-Academic selection, a Keck Science researcher, and plans to pursue a PhD in neuroscience, neurobiology, or developmental biology.

Jessica Torrey (Pacific Palisades, Calif. - HMC, Engineering)
Torrey came in 15th place in the 5000 at a five-team SCIAC Multi-Dual in 2018 during track and field season as a first-year, and added a 16th place finish in the 5000 at home in a second Multi-Dual. Torrey has also competed for three seasons in cross country for the Athenas, and was planning to return to the track for her senior campaign. An engineering major at Harvey Mudd, she has earned SCIAC All-Academic team honors despite the rigorous Mudd courseload and has also pursued a BA in music while at Mudd, studying music history, theory and composition.

Theresa Versen (Minnetonka, Minn. - CMC, Economics)
Versen came in ninth place in the 1500 meters at the SCIAC Track and Field Championships in 2019, breaking the five-minute mark with a time of 4:58.81. She competed for two seasons with CMS cross country before spending the fall 2019 semester abroad and competing in three track and field meets in the spring. She had a strong showing at the SCIAC Cross Country Championships as a sophomore, finishing 40th out of 118 competitors, and added top-50 finishes in the Biola Invitational (46) and Cougar Challenge (32).  An economics major at Claremont McKenna, she is a SCIAC All-Academic Team selection and has worked as a product analyst intern with StateBook International.