Four earn All-West Region, Tigers finish fifth at meet
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2009) – Grace Peck and Denali Hasley have been running cross country for Occidental College for four years. In their final collegiate race they were sure to leave it all out on the course. Peck was the top finisher for the Tigers, who finished fifth as a team, while Hasley was third as sophomores Sadie Mohler and Eliza Dornbush were second and fourth for the Black and Orange, respectively, as all four earned All-West Region honors.
Peck, who finished just two spots out of advancing to the NCAA National Championships next weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, shaved off more than a minute and 20 seconds on this course as she completed the 6K in a time of 23:20.81, placing 17 among a field of 113.
“It is disappointing for Grace to have come so close to qualifying for Nationals,” said head coach Rob Bartlett, “But, she and Denali both really stepped up over the last couple of weeks and ran very well in their final college race.”
Halsey ran a time of 23:48.66 today, which was a more than a minute improvement from the West Region Preview meet earlier this season. She was the 27th runner to cross the finish line and was just a shade over five seconds behind Mohler who clocked in at 23:43.54, a five second improvement from the preview meet. Dornbush ran just behind Halsey at 23:53.72, good for fourth among the Tigers. Both of them ran more than a minute faster than the last time out on this course.
Freshman Megan Lang was the fifth finisher and final scorer for Occidental as she finished in 24:14.01, a second faster than the last time she ran this course.
The only other freshman competing in her first West Regional meet was Tara Saxena, producing a time of 25:18.81. Rounding out the field was sophomore Meghan Whalen (27:43.37).
