CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior Olivia Backholm of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's cross team won the individual title at the 2026 SCIAC Championships on Friday in a time of 21:48.6, leading the Athenas to a second-place finish. 

Backholm is the sixth straight individual champion from the Athenas, with five different runners finishing first in that span. Meredith Bloss started the streak in 2021, with Natalie Bitetti winning in 2022 and 2023, Riley Capuano taking first in 2024 and Elle Marsyla winning last year. 

CMS had its streak of 15 straight titles come to a close with its second-place finish, as Pomona-Pitzer had five of the top seven finishers to earn 22 points, with the Athenas in second with 39.

Backholm was joined on the All-SCIAC first team by Kylie Brunelli, who came in fifth with a time of 22:03.8, and Isla Duncan, who was tenth in 22:23.4. 

CMS also had seven runners earn second-team All-SCIAC honors, with Nevis Murphy (11th), Brannan Rosenfeld (13th), Julieta Ochoa (14th), Revere Schmidt (15th), Talia Su-Yin Green (16th), Jie Yi Denise Chen (19th) and Sadie Drucker (20th) each earning a spot on the SCIAC podium. 

Sophie Saleh (22nd), Raquel Flores (24th), Olivia DeBoer (26th) and Charlotte Preuss (30th) were in the top 30 out of 106 runners in the field. Nora Olson (32nd), Lily Pippel (34th), Anja Framke (36th), Skye Georgiadis (37th) and Rosemary McManus (40th) were in the top 40. 

CMS will next compete at the NCAA West Regionals in Spokane Washington on Nov. 14 to try to earn its way to the NCAA Division III Championships on Nov. 21 at Carleton College in Minnesota.