Men's Cross Country Hopeful as SCIAC Season Approaches
By Drew Perraut
Sports Writer

On Saturday, September 21 the men’s cross country team, led by Coach Pat Mulcahy, participated in in the University of California at Riverside Invitational. The eight kilometer run was the second competition of the season for the Pomona-Pitzer men.

The team finished seventeenth out of twenty-nine teams, with an average time of 27:35.64. Crosby Freemen ’06 finished first for P-P, with a time of 26:39.30, and placed 69th overall.
Finishing out the top five Sagehen runners were Nate DeFelice ’04 (92nd with a time of 27:03.90), Chris Dubois ’06 (107th with a time of 27:18.10), Braden Boice ‘05 (175th with a time of 28:20.10), and Dan Shickich ’05 (188th with a time of 28:36.80).

On the whole, the cross country team fared well despite its lack of experienced runners.

According to DeFelice, only one member of the team, Andy Barnett ’04, has run more than one season of cross country with P-P. Two freshmen, Freeman and Dubois, placed among the top five P-P runners at the meet.

“They both ran very good times,” says DeFelice.

Most members of the team seem to share the opinion that P-P is running well, but there is plenty of room for improvement before SCIAC season begins. “We are capable of a better performance…I suspect it’s just a matter of time until we have a breakthrough race,” said Andrew McDavid ’06.

For the last two years in a row, P-P has won second place in Conference, one spot behind CMS. This year, they hope to reverse that trend and outrun all their rivals.

“It will be fun to see where we are when the league meets roll around. We’re one of the stronger teams in the conference, so we’ll definitely challenge for the title,” Barnette said.

Even if they do not accomplish their goal of placing first at SCIAC this season, the outlook for the team is excellent. Such overall strength in such a young team is very encouraging. Most of the runners will have at least another year to continue working together, dramatically improving their chances for victory in coming seasons.

The P-P cross country team will next compete on Saturday, September 28 at the Stanford Invitational. The competition that the Sagehens face at the Stanford race will be similar to the Riverside Invitational. Their first SCIAC competition will take place at La Mirada on October 19th.