Women's Cross Country Places 22nd at Nationals

Pacing all SCIAC runners, Pomona-Pitzer junior Alicia Freese earned All-American honors at the 2008 NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championships on Saturday, November 22. Freese finished 22nd in the women’s race in the season-ending championship meet held at Hanover College in southern Indiana.

In the team standings, Pomona-Pitzer finished 22nd with 462 points after entering the meet ranked 26th in the nation. This was the team's first appearance at nationals since 1982. A total of 32 teams competed in the women’s meet, which was won by Middlebury with 179 points.

Freese clocked 21:32 over the 6000m (3.7 mile) course to become only the second Pomona-Pitzer All American in the sport's history. Kelly Redfield also finished 22nd at the National meet back in 1991.

Teammates finishing behind Freese for Pomona-Pitzer included senior Anna Scharfen (84th, 22:19), senior Maddy Kieselhorst (128th, 22:40), junior Rose Haag (195th, 23:17), junior Zoe Meyers (223rd (23:34), frosh Kayla Eland (266th, 24:17) and frosh Shelley Chestler (268th, 24:20). A total of 279 runners completed the race, which was won by Bethel’s Marie Borner in 20:43.