The P-P Men’s cross-country team concluded a successful season after traveling to the NCAA Division III West Regionals at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon. The West Regionals drew ten of the top Division III teams from the Pacific Seaboard and as far east as Colorado. Willamette University hosted the race, which took place November 10. Pomona-Pitzer was one of three SCIAC teams present at the meet (Whittier and CMS were the others) The Sagehens accumulated 189 points in the race, good enough for a seventh place finish. (Cross-country scores are tabulated by adding the finishes of the team’s top seven finishers – the lower the score the better.)

The race was dominated by SCIAC rival CMS, which placed first with an impressive score of 39. CMS runner David Juliano won the race with a time of 24:38, one of just two runners who averaged a five minute mile over the eight kilometer course. On October 27th, Juliano was named the SCIAC runner of the year after finishing first in the SCIAC championship. At Bush Park, the Stags dominated, placing five runners in the top fifteen slots. With the win, CMS and meet runner-up Willamette University qualified for the Division III Nationals. None of P-P’s runners qualified for the nationals, which will take place on November 17 in Rock Island, IL.

Sophomore Nate DeFelice ’04 was the first to cross the finish line for the Sagehens. "The weather was awesome," DeFelice said after the race, "It was a really fast course and a lot of our guys ran well." He finished twenty-third, running a personal best 26:06, an average of 5:15 per mile. Next to finish for the Sagehens was Braden Boice ’05, who ranked thirtieth with a time of 26:36. Pomona’s other five runners: Paul Snape ’02, David Marshall ’05, Andy Barnett ’04 and Jake Oken-Berg ’02 finished 43, 55, 61 and 65 respectively.

The meet capped an impressive season for the Sagehens. The squad finished second in the SCIAC for the second consecutive season, both times behind SCIAC powerhouse CMS. This year the team’s strength was depth: P-P managed to place second in the SCIAC championship race even though DeFelice, consistently the team’s fastest runner, placed just ninth. But because DeFelice, Boice and Oken-Berg all managed to place in the top twenty, the Sagehens were able to keep their team score down and secure second. They finished sixty-seven points behind CMS, but just nine ahead of third place Whittier. "We really did a lot better as a team than I had expected," DeFelice said. "Everyone worked really hard and it definitely paid off." Because DeFelice finished in the top ten, he was named to the First Team All-SCIAC for 2001. Boice’s thirteenth place finish secured his spot on the Second Team All-SCIAC.

Look for the men’s cross-country team to be just as successful in the coming years. The loss of team captain Oken-Berg, and the consistent Snape will hurt, but DeFelice, Boice and Marshall will only get better with time. That nucleus, combined with Barnett and whoever else can step up for the Sagehens next year, should be able to provide consistent competition for CMS in the upcoming seasons. "We’re really looking ahead right now," DeFelice said, "We’ve got a good young team. The hope is to make nationals in the future. [The loss of Oken-Berg and Snape] will really hurt, but the rest of us are only getting better."