Men's Cross Country Places Second in SCIAC Championships, Fails to End CMS Hegemony
By Joey Richards
Sports Writer

Trying to oust rival CMS from its perennial reign as SCIAC champions, the Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross country team came closer to up-ending the Stags on Saturday than any team since 1997.

As it happened, the Sagehens finished second for the third straight year in the eight-team SCIAC Championships, held at Prado Park in nearby Chino. P-P finished with a total score of 46, while CMS won with a tally of 22 (score is calculated by adding up the finishes of the top five runners on each squad).

“We weren’t brilliant, but were really solid. We have some minor injuries, so the fact that we held onto second place was great,” said Head Coach Pat Mulcahy.

However, the story for the Hens was freshman sensation Crosby Freeman. During the race, Freeman pushed top CMS runner Pat McGrail ’03 to the limit.

After all was said and done, McGrail won the 8k race by a mere 1.94 seconds over Freeman. Freeman, with a time of 25:45, topped the third place finisher by a healthy margin of 26 seconds.

Freeman improved on his breakout showing in SCIAC multis, when he finished in third place, 16 seconds behind McGrail.

“Freeman performed fantastically as a freshman. He has a legitimate shot at making a Nationals appearance,” said Mulcahy.

Rounding out the rest of the top five for Pomona-Pitzer were Chris DuBois ’06 (eighth place, 27:28), Nate DeFelice ’04 (ninth, 27:29), Golden Krishna ’05 (twelfth, 27:50), and David Marshall ’05 (fifteenth, 28:07).

The team now turns its attention to West Regionals, to be held on November 16th at Prado Park. The squad has two weeks to prepare and, more importantly, to heal some key runners. The most notable injuries are to Dubois (shin splints), DeFelice (hip flexor and knee), and Danny Shickich ’05 (allergies).

The squad can only take seven runners to Regionals, forcing some tough decisions upon Mulcahy.

“Right now we’re for sure taking Freeman, DeFelice, Krishna, Marshall, and Braden Boice ’05 [16th place in SCIACs]. Then, there are three other guys we are looking at for the last two spots,” said Mulcahy.

If the team finishes in the top three in Regionals, it will advance to NCAA Division III Nationals at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. If the team does not break into the top three, individual runners can be sent based on their personal finishes in Regionals.

“With Regionals, we have a legitimate chance to be in the top five. Realistically, we’re not quite in the top three. Freeman also has a strong chance for a Nationals’ appearance,” said Mulcahy.

Looking forward to next year, Pomona-Pitzer appears poised to finally take down CMS and win the SCIAC. This year, five of the Stags’ top six runners are seniors, including their top four (based on finishes in SCIAC Championships). On the other hand, P-P has no seniors. In fact, the Sagehens had seven freshmen and six sophomores finish in the top 53 places in SCIACs. With Freeman leading the way, the team promises to be champion-caliber in the near future.