Four-time reigning conference champions and winners of three national titles in a four-season span from 2019-23, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges are unanimously expected to continue their reign in the 2025 SCIAC Men’s Cross Country Preseason Poll.
Fueled by the conference’s past three Newcomers of the Year in
Peter Neid, Jack Stein and
Jefferson Wright, the Sagehens also bring back Top-26 underclassmen
Tiernan Colby and
Nate Wehner. Stein paced Coaching Staff of the Year winner
Amber Williams’ and
Emma DeLira’s squad as the highest returning finisher (fourth place) in the conference, with Neid and Wright close behind as First Team honorees.
Rookies
Jerry Xu and
Jonas Rickert will look to assume early leadership roles with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Xu made the All-SCIAC Second Team with Rickert just two spots back. Caltech’s own rookie duo of
Stephen Goehringer and
Jack Sullivan, who placed 24
th and 33
rd, face the same challenge after the departure of the Beavers’ top two finishers.
Second Team honoree
Finn McClure and
Syeir Shabete, who was the first runner off the All-Conference squads, are both back for the University of La Verne which also placed two more runners among the Top 30. Scoring lineup mainstay
David Huggins and
Stian Asper, owner of the second-fastest time in program history, headline the University of Redlands contingent.
Occidental College was picked to bump up a spot from seventh place behind juniors
Jack Elfenbaum and
Noah Barraza, who already have assumed leadership roles without a senior on the roster.
Gavin White and
Lucas Turano are set to reprise their leadership roles for Chapman University while
Nicholas Moore could lead a new-look California Lutheran University squad that graduated its top three lineup mainstays. Whittier College is primed to field a full scoring lineup with senior
Kiyoshi Todd and All-SCIAC Second Teamer
Cameron Riccio atop the group.
2025 SCIAC Men’s Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Pomona-Pitzer, 81 points (nine first-place votes)
2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 72 pts
3. Caltech, 58 pts
4. La Verne, 48 pts
5. Redlands, 47 pts
6. Occidental, 38 pts
7. Chapman, 34 pts
8. California Lutheran, 17 pts
9. Whittier, 10 pts
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