Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges are unanimous favorites to win a 14
th consecutive title according to the 2025 SCIAC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll, as voted by the league’s head coaches.
Owners of the second-longest active championship streak across all sports, the Athenas and four-time Coaching Staff of the Year winner
Marina Muncan welcome back their top four runners after an 11
th-place finish at the NCAA Championship. Athlete of the Year
Riley Capuano and Newcomer of the Year
Sadie Drucker placed first and second at last year’s title race. Two-sport star
Revere Schmidt also placed sixth after winning Newcomer honors in 2023, extending a streak of six consecutive Newcomer honors for CMS harriers that also includes
Elle Marysla, who finished runner-up in 2023 before missing last season due to injury. A fifth All-Conference runner rounds out the anticipated scoring lineup as
Sara Wexler made the All-SCIAC First Team in 2023.
Pomona-Pitzer Colleges also bring back five All-Conference runners as each of
Fiona Bodkin,
Eva Novy-Hildesley,
Joya Terdiman,
Megan Walter and
Kendall Madine made the Second Team last fall. Madine was the only first-year to crack the conference’s Top-20 before the team recorded a 30
th-place finish at NCAAs.
One of two individual NCAA qualifiers for the University of Redlands is back, with
Eve Mavy also garnering Second Team All-SCIAC recognition. Graduate student
Eleanor Bachmeier, the 2024 Track Athlete of the Year, will join the lineup after specializing in mid-distance and heptathlon for the past four years.
Three-time All-SCIAC honoree and NCAA qualifier
Jenna LeNay has one season left for the Occidental College Tigers, having finished fifth and fourth the last two years. Caltech’s three-time Second Team All-SCIAC senior,
Gigi Pistilli, also returns to lead the Beavers one last time.
Brenda Daza topped the lineup for Chapman with impressive finishes of 31
st at the SCIAC Championship and 44
th in the NCAA West Regional while
Ryleigh LaRue (42
nd) will be the lone senior on a University of La Verne squad with seven first-years.
Summer Gelman stood out for California Lutheran University as a First Team All-SCIAC performer who just missed NCAA qualification by one place at the Regional. Graduate student
Sara Martinez will lead a quartet of first-years as Whittier College looks to field a full scoring team.
2025 SCIAC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 81 points (nine first-place votes)
2. Pomona-Pitzer, 72 pts
3. Redlands, 57 pts
4. Occidental, 52 pts
5. Caltech, 48 pts
6. Chapman, 41 pts
7. La Verne, 25 pts
8. California Lutheran, 19 pts
9. Whittier, 10 pts
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