The conference’s second-longest active title streak across all sports is expected to continue as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges are the unanimous pick to win a 14th consecutive season per the 2024 SCIAC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll, as voted by the league’s coaches.
A fourth-place finish in the tightest-ever NCAA Championship last fall closed out a brilliant season from the Athenas, who bring back four of six First Team All-Conference performers including SCIAC Championship runner-up Elle Marsyla and third-place finisher Riley Capuano. The classmates both earned Newcomer of the Year honors in 2022-23 (Marsyla for cross country, Capuano for track & field) and welcomed yet another this past fall in Revere Schmidt, a two-sport star who also made several championship heats in swimming & diving. Three-time First Team qualifier Angela Gushue and Sara Wexler, who made her first All-SCIAC squad with an eighth-place finish, round out the scoring lineup as CMS looks to maintain its streak dating back to 2010.
Pomona-Pitzer Colleges are perceived to pose the toughest challenge to their Sixth Street rival thanks to a trio of returning All-Conference runners. The Sagehens came in seven points ahead of the University of Redlands after the Bulldogs vaulted from fourth place in 2022 to runners-up at last year’s Championship, 91-100. Mia Terdiman and Katie Cline made the First and Second Team, respectively, last season while Rhea Braganza made the First Team in 2022. Three-time All-SCIAC performer and 2023 NCAA qualifier Chloe Bullock and Eve Mavy led the charge in ninth and 11th place for the Maroon and Gray’s best finish since 2015.
Occidental College was just behind that pair only two points shy of the Sagehens last year, but slotted into the Preseason Poll with breathing room on either side. Standout Jenna LeNay was the top finisher from an institution other than CMS in fourth place, which punched her ticket to the NCAA Championship where she placed 65th. She also broke Oxy’s 41-year old 10k record in track & field last spring. Chapman University had a pair of runners qualify for NCAA’s as well in Annika Carlson and Amelia Jauregui. Carlson finished one spot behind LeNay at the SCIAC Championship but was the conference’s top finisher among the four individual qualifiers in 39th place. Rookie standout Brenda Daza was just 1.3 seconds behind Schmidt in the race for Newcomer of the Year honors.
Three-time Second Team All-SCIAC pick Sofie Dalfonzo and two-time selection Virginia Pistilli have formed a formidable partnership for Caltech, which has placed multiple runners on All-Conference teams each of the last three years with a total of nine. Dalfonzo and Pistilli have made their mark in track & field as well, with Pistilli third in the 10k last spring while Dalfonzo was runner-up in both the 5k and 10k in 2023.
University of La Verne first-year Marissa Hehir was the only other rookie to crack the All-Conference picture last fall. The returning trio of Dinkenesh Coltvet, Kendall Fleming and Isabela Garcia-Work will head up the California Lutheran University contingent.
The season opens on Saturday, Aug. 31 as seven teams get a preview of the SCIAC Championship site, Carbon Canyon Regional Park, in Brea while Redlands hosts Whittier College and other teams across divisions.
2024 SCIAC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 81 points (9)
2. Pomona-Pitzer, 69 pts
3. Redlands, 62 pts
4. Occidental, 53 pts
5. Chapman, 43 pts
6. Caltech, 40 pts
7. La Verne, 27 pts
8. California Lutheran, 21 pts
9. Whittier, 9 pts
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