RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's cross team finished in sixth place out of 20 teams, as the only NCAA Division III program in the field, at the Highlander Invitational hosted by UC Riverside on Saturday.
The event was the final tune-up for the Athenas before they compete for the SCIAC Championships in less than two weeks at Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, Oct. 30.
Isla Duncan was the top finisher for CMS for the fourth straight race that she has competed in, finishing in 20:44.3 to end in 13th place out of 223 runners. She was slightly behind her 20:37.6 that she ran at UC Riverside in CMS' first race on their course at the UC Riverside Invitational on Sept. 19, which was run in cooler conditions.
Brannan Rosenfeld was the second Athena to cross the line, finishing in 21:20.0 to come in 36th place.
Olivia Backholm was close behind in 21:24.4 to come in 40th, while
Talia Su-Yin Green (21:37.4) and
Jie Yi Denise Chen (21:38.6) finished back-to-back in 60th and 61st to round out the scorers for CMS. Green moved up from 37th to 28th place in CMS history with her time.
Sienna Faidi added a finish in 21:47.6, while
Sadie Drucker ran in her first race of the season and crossed the line in 21:48.5. Drucker was an All-American last year, but has missed the first month and a half of the season while recovering from injury.
UC Santa Barbara was the team champion, while UC San Diego came in second, Grand Canyon third, Biola fourth, and CSU Fullerton fifth. The Athenas finished ahead of Division I programs California Baptist in seventh and UC Riverside in eighth.
The individual champion was former Athena
Elle Marsyla in 19:51.4. Marsyla is running for UC San Diego as a graduate student this fall, after earning All-America honors for CMS cross country last fall, and then winning the national championship in the 10000 meters for the track and field team in the spring.
CMS will be back in action for the SCIAC Championships on Oct. 30, when it will be trying to win its 16th straight league title, dating back to 2010.
