Women's XC Records Fast Times at UC Riverside Meet
Running in the first rays of sunlight, Pomona-Pitzer's women's cross country team recorded strong times at the 2009 UC Riverside cross country invitational Saturday. The Sagehens had numerous seasons bests and a handful of all-time bests on the UCR agricultural station course through the orange groves.
With an early start time to beat the day's heat, Pomona-Pitzer harriers were unfazed by the early morning wake-up call or early morning fog. The meet featured numerous Division I, II and NAIA teams, plus clubs of post-collegiate runners. The Sagehens finished a deceptive 22nd out of 27 teams, but were the second Division III team in the meet.
Senior Rose Haag paced Pomona-Pitzer with her 18:46 over the 5000 meter (3.1 mile) course. Haag's time is a PR, and she finished 103rd out of 217 runners in the first race of the day. Frosh Roxanne Cook took the team's second position by running 19:14 to finish 132nd. Behind Haag and Cook for Pomona-Pitzer were senior Rachel Haislet (19:20, 140th place), junior Kate Brieger (19:24, 147th) and sophomore Kayla Eland (19:46, 172nd). Frosh Annie Lydens paced Pomona-Pitzer runners in the second women's race of the day by finishing 33rd in 19:41.
"We raced well," stated Head Coach Kirk Reynolds. "We got out well and held our positions through the first two-thirds of the race. We just need more time to work on building our race finishes. It'll come. We're putting in lots of hard work right now, and that strength and endurance will pay off as we get into our October and November races."
Pomona-Pitzer does not race this coming weekend, but resumes competition on Saturday, October 3 at home in the Western Preview meet.
