Men’s Cross Country Places Third, Women Earn Fifth at Pomona-Pitzer Invite

The Caltech cross country teams took on the annual Pomona-Pitzer Invitational this past Saturday, where the men collected a third-place finish while the women nabbed fifth.

Senior Miles Jones (San Diego / Rancho Bernardo) led the charge for the Beavers in the men’s race as he traversed the 8,000-meter course in 26 minutes and 5.1 seconds, good for 18th overall and 13th among 75 collegiate finishers. The standout averaged 5:14.8 per mile across the nearly-five-mile race; Jones’ time was just 4.1 seconds off from his personal record from the Pre-Nationals Meet earlier this month.

Fellow senior Rohun Agrawal (Cupertino, Calif. / Monta Vista) came across in 18th among collegiate finishers with a time of 26:28.5 before rookies Stephen Goehringer (Wellesley, Mass. / Wellesley) and Jack Sullivan (Bethesda, Md. / Georgetown Preparatory) earned 20th and 21st places (collegiate), respectively. Goehringer crossed the line in 26:35.5 while Sullivan followed at 26:47.0.

First-year Kyle Berkson (Salt Lake City / Olympus) rounded out the team’s top five in 24th place among college athletes with a time of 27:05.6; sophomore Ryan Fortin (Londonderry, N.H. / Londonderry) finished just one place and .3 seconds later at 27:05.9.

Senior Thomas MacLean (Redding, Calif. / Shasta) finished in 27th among college runners (27:15.8) while junior Jacob Wolmer (Tenafly, N.J. / Tenafly) came across moments later at 27:17.2.

The men’s team beat out SCIAC foes Occidental College and Cal Lutheran University en route to their top-3 finish; they also finished ahead of Soka University of NAIA.

The women’s race saw the most dominant individual performance from a Beaver in either race as senior Sophie Dalfonzo (Fair Haven, N.J. / Biotechnology & Rumson-Fair Regional) collected 10th place out of 80 total finishers. The star dominated the 6,000-meter course with a blazing time of 22:31.7, just 3.7 seconds off from her all-time personal best time which ranks No. 4 all-time on the 6K program record board.

It was a tightly-contested finish, with the runners placing seventh through 11th all crossing the line within 5.2 seconds of each other.

Junior Gigi Pistilli (Portola Valley, Calif. / Woodside) posted a strong race herself as she nabbed 16th place with a time of 22:53.1 while junior Camilla Power (Edmonds, Wash. / Saint James) collected 31st place with a massive personal-record time of 23:53.6. The time was a monumental PR for the junior, who destroyed her previous best time of 25:09.8.

Rookie Shrila Esturi (Campbell, Calif. / Saint Francis) crossed the line in 52nd place at 24:52.1 while classmate Hypatia Hamkins (New York / The Brearley School) rounded out the team’s top five with a 58th place finish after running 25:19.1.

Sophomore Layla Adeli (Pacific Palisades, Calif. / Palisades Charter) came across as the sixth Beaver; she earned 65th at 26:12.3.

The Caltech women beat out SCIAC opponent Cal Lutheran University by 27 points.

Head coach Kelli Blake and the teams will now turn their focus towards the SCIAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif. The women’s race kicks off at 9 a.m. while the men compete at 9:45 a.m. Find more information about the meet here.

Last year, the men earned third place at the SCIAC Championships while the women collected fifth. Five Beavers received All-SCIAC honors while head coach Kelli Blake and her staff received SCIAC Men’s Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

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