Stags, Athenas Win SCIAC Championships

The men's and women's cross country teams each placed first at the SCIAC Championships this past Saturday. The men scored 37 points and the women scored 34.  This was the first time the men have placed first since 2002 while the women have won 13 times in the last 15 years.  The women won their 19th overall title and the men finish second in the final standings due to their third place finish at the SCIAC Multi-Dual.

The Stags raced first on the dry, rolling grass hills of Prado Park in Chino looking to show they were a better team than they showed at the Multi-Dual.  Led by Florian Scheulen's (JR, Encinitas) second place finish, CMS placed six runners in the top 12 overall (and before any other team's fourth) and had nine of the top 21.  Scheulen improved four places from the Multi-Dual, set a personal best time of 25:46 for the 8,000 meter race and earned First Team All-SCIAC honors by finishing in the top ten.  Joining him on the first team were Bryan Chow (FR, Granada) in sixth, Kramer Straube (SO, Menlo Park) in eighth and Chris Gurney (SR, Ventura) in tenth.  Second Team All-SCIAC honors (11-20) were earned by Brian Kopczynski (SO, Coto de Caza) in 11th, Mike Van Antwerp (SR, Reno, NV) in 12th, Georgi Dinolov (SO, Capitola) in 18th and Dillon Ayers (SO, Eureka) in 20th.  Scheulen, Gurney, Kopczynski and Dinolov all earned All-SCIAC honors last season while Straube improved 35 places and Ayers 20 places over 2007.

The Athenas ran a little tired, but were still able to place five runners in the top 12 and won the meet by 30 points.  Evelyn Ross (SR, Iowa City, IA) led the team with a second place finish.  She earned SCIAC Runner of the Year honors by having the lowest combined finish at the Multi-Dual (1) and Championships (2).  Joining her on the All-SCIAC First Team were Julia Rigby (FR, Tustin) in fourth and Kathleen Harris (SR, Bremerton, WA) in fifth.  Second Team All-SCIAC runners were Ashley Scott (SO, Battle Creek, MI) in 11th, Lacey McLean (FR, Gig Harbor, WA) in 12th and Allysa Rueschenberg (JR, Avila Beach) in 19th.  Ross, Scott and Rueschenberg earned All-SCIAC honors last season while Harris, who studied abroad last fall, improved 41 places over 2006.

Both teams will next compete at the NCAA West Region meet in Salem, OR on November 15.  The top two teams at the meet will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships on November 22.  The women are currently ranked second in the region and the men are ranked third.

Click the following for: complete results