Three Races, Three Honors: Natalie Bitetti Wins SCIAC Athlete of the Week Again

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Natalie Bitetti captured the SCIAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week honor for races through Sunday, Oct. 2, the league office announced today.

Bitetti has now run in three races this season, and has won the SCIAC Athlete of the Week each time. This honor was for a third-place finish out of 395 runners from all NCAA divisions at the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Friday.  Bitetti had a time of a time of 20:57.3, behind only Annika Urban of Emory and Eve Feuerbach of Division I Holy Cross, as she helped CMS to a first-place finish out of 46 teams. 

Previously, Bitetti earned the honor on Sept. 6, after winning the Redlands Invitational and leading CMS to the team title. She won it a second time on Sept. 19 after being the top Division III finisher at the UC Riverside Invitational. The Athenas competed last week at the CSU San Marcos Cougar Challenge, but Bitetti and the rest of the CMS contingent that traveled to the Paul Short Run were held out of that race to prepare for the trip to Pennsylvania. 

CMS will have a shorter trip for its next competition, when it heads across the street on Saturday to run in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational, its only appearance in Claremont this season.