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Third Straight SCIAC Championship for Men’s Cross Country
CHINO HILLS, Calif. (Nov. 1, 2008) – Occidental College men’s cross country has established themselves as a threat to the conference as well as the region and even the nation, currently ranked 32nd, as they claimed their third consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title today at Prado Park.
As he has done all season freshman Eric Kleinsasser led the pack, finishing first in a time of 25:43.15, which was nearly a 30 second improvement from his SCIAC Multi-Dual meet finish, which he also won.
Kleinsasser beat his closest opponent, junior Florian Scheulen from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, by three seconds with senior teammates Keith Blumenfeld and Clay Hoadley finishing third (25:51.99) and fifth (26:18.05), respectively.
The final two scoring Tigers were senior David Martinezand freshman Sebi Delvin-Foltz. Although Martinez had a higher finish at the Multi-Duals he shaved more than seven seconds off his 8K time crossing the finish line in 26:53.65. Delvin-Foltz was the 23rd overall finisher in a time of 27:34.11 to round out the scoring for Oxy.
While the Tigers (6-1) finished second to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7-0) at the SCIAC Championship Meet, by just 5.03 seconds, Occidental claimed the title after winning the Multi-Duals on Oct. 18 while CMS placed third.
Joining the senior trio of Blumenfeld, Hoadley and Martinez donning black and orange for the final time in the regular season was Stephen Ortega (29:32.00).
Occidental will travel to Salem, Ore. To compete at the NCAA West Regional meet on Saturday, Nov. 15.
