Women's Cross Country Picked to Repeat as SCIAC Champions in 2019

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's cross country team was picked to repeat as SCIAC Champions according to a preseason vote of the league's coaches, the conference office announced today.

CMS will be trying to win its 10th straight SCIAC title this fall, which would give the Athenas a clean sweep of the decade of the 2010s. The Athenas graduated three of their top seven who competed at last year's SCIAC Championships, but return a deep roster with many athletes ready to step up and fill those voids. 

The SCIAC preseason poll was also a reversal of the USTFCCCA West Region poll, which had Pomona-Pitzer first (and No. 8 in the country), just ahead of CMS at second in the region and No. 14 nationally. The Athenas earned 78 points in the SCIAC poll, including six first-place votes, finishing three ahead of Pomona-Pitzer, which had the other three first-place votes. 

There is a substantial dropoff after the two Claremont Colleges teams, as Occidental is in third place in the preseason poll with 61 points, followed by Redlands with 55 and Caltech with 43 in the fourth and fifth spots. 

CMS gets its season underway next weekend, when it competes in the Biola Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 8:45 a.m.


2019 SCIAC Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. CMS - 78 points (6 first place votes)
2. Pomona-Pitzer - 75 points (3 first place votes)
3. Occidental - 61 points
4. Redlands - 55 points
5. Caltech - 43 points
6. Chapman - 35 points
7. La Verne - 30 points
8. Whittier - 15 points
9. Cal Lutheran - 13 points