THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Cal Lutheran Men's and Women's Cross Country heads to Prado Park in Chino, Calif. for the 2018 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday, October 27. The women's 6K race will begin at 9:00am, with the men to follow in the 8K at 9:45am.
Due to the elimination of this year's SCIAC Multi-Duals race, this is the first season since the program entered the SCIAC and NCAA Division III in 1991 that the team's final conference standings will be determined solely by the team's performance at the SCIAC Championships.
The Regals finished in seventh last season, both overall and in the championships. Veterans to the course, junior Rachel Ereso paced the Regals and came in 23rd-place, crossing the line at 24:55.72, while senior Kylie Rodriguez finished third amongst the team with a time of 26:49.67.
The two have continued to lead the team this season, while newcomers Veronica Redpath and Caroline Slate have shown their potential on the course. Redpath led the Regals with a time of 24:01.2 in her 6K debut at the UC Riverside Invitational and Slate crossed the line at Pomona Pitzer with a time of 24:49.0, less than two seconds shy of her lifetime personal record and is now 16th on the Cal Lutheran all-time list for the course.
The Kingsmen also finished in seventh last season, both overall and in the championships. Returning to the team this season, Nikita Khromets placed 56th last year with a time of 28:17.34 and Connor Neufeld-Griffin who came in 86th at 29:06.82.
Leading the way in 2018, juniors Khromets and Rigoberto Baza have finished every race as the first two Kingsmen over the line and enter race day coming off their strongest career performance at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational. The two ran lifetime personal bests, placing them into the top ten times recorded on the course in program history.
Khromets broke the 27-minute mark in the 6K for the first time in his career and became one just six Kingsmen to ever break the mark. His 26:57.6 was good for 21st and the sixth fastest time in Cal Lutheran history on the course. Baza also recorded a personal-best with a 27:12.9 on the day, finishing in 25th. His time moves him into the nine sport in the all-time list on the course which the Kingsmen have been running since 2009.
Meet Information: SCIAC Championships
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Release by Christy Effendie, Assistant Sports Information Director
