LA MIRADA, Calif. – For the first time of the fall the Cal Lutheran women’s cross country team lined up in league competition and combined to finish fourth at the Multi Duals with a record of 5-3 against the other eight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) teams.
For the first time in her CLU career, Melissa Skiba took home the top spot, after placing second in the same 6K a year ago. The senior harrier paced the field, finishing in 21:35.32, almost 13 full seconds ahead of the next fastest runner, Allison Barnwell (21.48.30) from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, as the only two sub 22-minute competitors.
The second CLU athlete across the line was Ashley Frese who went a 22:52.30 to place 11th out of 112.
In an overall slower 2013 field, the only Regals runner to shave time from last year was Amanda Miller. Her time of 23:29.94 today was almost 20 seconds faster than her 2012 clocking. The mark placed her third among Cal Lutheran competitors.
Natalie Bullock and Jess Infald ran together throughout the race, finishing back-to-back in times of 23:43.31 and 23:44.10, respectively, to earn the final two Regals scoring positions.
Also completing the course today for CLU were Taelor Young (24:04.99), Sarah Parsons (24:18.59), Chantal White (25:28.39), Kathi Kirkeby (28:02.35), Kelsey Lewis (30:49.82) and Amy Falahat (31:08.54).
As a team, CLU combined to defeat Caltech, Chapman, La Verne, Redlands and Whittier for their five dual meet wins. The Regals nearly knocked off Pomona-Pitzer as well, falling 28-27.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps went undefeated at 8-0, followed by Occidental (7-1), and Pomona-Pitzer (6-2) to round out the top three. Behind CLU in the standings were UR (4-4), WC (3-5), CU (2-6), Caltech (1-7) and LV (0-8).
Cal Lutheran runs against the same field at Prado Park for the SCIAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 11:00 a.m. in Chino Hills, Calif.
Results: CLU – 4th
Scores: Team Scores
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Follow Amanda: @webringinXCback
CLU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports