Stevie Steinberg takes men’s 8-kilometer race for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, with Genevieve DiBari of Pomona-Pitzer prevailing in women’s 6-kilometer competition as SCIAC stars shine on their way to nationals

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

CLAREMONT – Two years removed from their last regional tango, the Claremont-Pomona dance continued Saturday morning in what has become a predictable tradition.

Pomona-Pitzer’s men and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women won titles in convincing, if not controlled, fashion during the NCAA Division 3 West Regional meet at Pomona College.

Pomona-Pitzer's men, the defending national champions (from 2019) and the No. 2-ranked Division 3 team in the nation, got out quickly in the 8-kilometer race and maintained control to the finish, tallying 35 points to CMS' 64 to win a fourth consecutive regional crown.

On the women's side, CMS went 2-3-4-6 in the 6-kilometer race and claimed the title with 27 points, while second-place Pomona-Pitzer had 105.

The Pitzer men and and CMS women each qualified for the Division 3 championship meet Nov. 20 at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky.

Pitzer’s women and CMS’ men are almost assured of advancing via at-large berths, and even the third-place teams – Colorado College in the women’s race and UC Santa Cruz’s men – could get in the conversation for at-large berths when they are expected to be announced Sunday.

CMS senior Stevie Steinberg survived an all-out sprint with teammate Henry Pick at the finish to win in 24 minutes, 47.3 seconds. Pomona-Pitzer junior Genevieve DiBari had an easier time, winning the women’s race by six seconds in 21:48.5.

“I think we were in a good position by the time we were finishing, so ... it was more a matter of moving on and not absolutely obliterating ourselves before we get to the big one,” said Pomona-Pitzer junior Ethan Widlansky, who placed a team-best fourth Saturday in 25:05.7.

Widlansky was the individual champion on this course two years ago.

And that brought up the key point Saturday. Only one automatic team berth moved on to next week, and then one, or possibly, two at-large qualifiers. Pomona-Pitzer had to take care of business but not spend too much energy with the championship race looming.

It was one reason, Widlansky said, that he didn’t try to go with Steinberg and Pick when they surged into the lead on what was a hot Saturday morning, warm enough that race officials moved up the race starting times by one hour each.

“I saw them move and thought, ‘This isn’t going to be the priority. If it means another 10 seconds, and that 10 seconds is an incredibly taxing 10 seconds, then I’d rather save it for a week from now.”

Steinberg and Pick, however, were not taking anything for granted as even second place, though a likely berth to move, was not a sure thing. They wanted to be as impressive as possible.

The two battled throughout the last kilometer with Steinberg winning by a half-second. Pick’s time was 24:47.9.

“As it began to thin out, Henry found his way to the front and then, with about two miles left to go, I found my way up to Henry,” Steinberg said. “And then that last 1,000 meters or so, just the two of us were coming down the hill and coming around. I really wanted to win; I’m sure he did too, and at that point we knew we were doing the best for the team.”

Pick had won the SCIAC Championships two weeks ago in a Pomona College course-record time of 24:24.7.

Whittier junior Benjamin White finished third Saturday in 24:59.1, just in front of Widlansky.

University of Redlands senior Tucker Cargile placed fifth in 25:07.3 after finishing as the runner-up two years ago. He was followed by a Pomona-Pitzer pack – sophomores Lucas Florsheim (sixth, 25:08.4) and Colin Kirkpatrick (seventh, 25:08.5), senior Paul McKinley (eighth, 25:08.6) and sophomore Derek Fearon (10th, 25:11.0) – with two additional athletes finishing in the top 20.

The women’s race wasn’t quite as close as DiBari moved well into the lead in the last two kilometers to run ahead of a host of CMS runners.

“I felt like the first part of the race went out fairly controlled,” she said. “I kind of felt like I could pick up the pace and I did, and I just wanted to see who would go with me.

“It definitely is both a bit of a confidence booster and a little terrifying because you never quite know if you’re going to hit a wall,” DiBari added. “But there comes a point where you kind of just have to try it out, and if you hit a wall, then you don’t really have any regrets in the race.”

CMS made sure there were no regrets in taking four of the top six places. Junior Meredith Bloss was the runner-up, running 21:54.4.

She was followed by sophomore Natalie Bitetti (third, 22:01.4) and seniors Emily Clarke (fourth, 22:06.6) and Riley Harmon (sixth, 22:16.4).

It was a dominating performance worthy of a team that is also ranked No. 2 in the nation in Division 3. Saturday marked the Athenas clinching their 13th consecutive trip to nationals.

“We definitely did exactly what we planned to do,” Harmon said. “We just wanted to come out here – it’s a step along the way to nationals that we’re super excited for. We just wanted to advance and not tire ourselves out too much.”

Fifth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer had sophomore Claire LeBlanc in seventh in 22:21.8. Pacific (Ore.) was represented in the No. 8 spot by junior Kara Putman (22:24.4).

Caltech senior Margaret Trautner finished ninth in 22:28.4. Dallas senior Anna Wilgenbush was 10th in 22:28.9.