5 Things to Know: SCIAC Championships
Top-5
The women's cross country team has set new top-5 average times in both the 5k and 6k races so far this season. Freshmen Olivia Armstrong, Maddie Mirro, Gabriella Lee and Audrey James and junior Emma Eglinton set the best five-runner average in the 5k race at the Masters University Invite in September. They beat the previous record by nearly 10 seconds, posting an average time of 19:45.9 between the five of them. In the 6k race, Mirro, Lee, James, Eglinton and freshman Megan Campbell beat the previous record by five seconds, averaging a time of 24:27.4 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invite.
Movin' On Up
The women's team posted their best finish in program history at the 2018 SCIAC Championships, placing sixth overall out of nine teams. That was a drastic improvement from the 2017 season, when they took ninth place. The Panthers will look to improve even further and have already demonstrated their ability to do so with team wins against La Verne and Whittier earlier this season.
Shaving Their Times
A group of men's runners have been consistently shaving time off this season's top-5 8k average. Freshmen Jacob Millen, Aiden White and Anthony Hart, junior Jose Guerrero and senior Drake Butler started with an average time of 28:02.4 at the first race of the season. The next week, the group fell two seconds before shaving off seven seconds to post an average time of 27:55.1 at the Masters University Invite two weeks later. At the final race before the SCIAC Championships, the five men's cross country runners posted the third-best average time in program history, shaving off nearly 25 seconds to post a 27:31.5.
Freshman Foundation
As in years past, the cross country teams have relied heavily on freshmen as the bulk of their runners. This year, the rookies have taken their new leadership roles in stride leading into the SCIAC Championships. Millen has posted the top time of the 2019 season with a personal-best time of 26:50.5. White posted the eighth-best time in program history with a 27:09.8 finish at the Pomona-Pitzer Invite. Hart finished just a few seconds after at the same race to post the 10th-best time in Chapman history.
On the women's side, Armstrong posted the third-best time at the Masters University Invite with a personal-best time of 19:03.7. Mirro also posted a time in the top-5 in program history after finishing with a time of 19:15.6 at the UC Riverside Invite.
Brick by Brick
The Panthers' motto this season is simple: Brick by Brick. The cross country teams have been laying a solid foundation that will help carry them into the SCIAC Championships. They have taken the time to carefully iron out all of the kinks of rebuilding a program and are excited to present their hard work tomorrow at Pomona-Pitzer. Both head coach Deandra'e Woods and Barron Maizland have instilled a deep sense of confidence in their runners ahead of the conference finals.