RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Caltech cross country programs competed at the 2023 SCIAC Championships on Saturday at the Riverside City Cross Country Course, where the men's team posted an exceptional third place performance while the women earned an impressive fifth place. Between the two teams, five Caltech student-athletes received All-SCIAC honors.

The men smashed their fifth place finish set one year ago as they beat out the University of La Verne — who have ranked as high as No. 26 in the nation this season — on a third-place tiebreaker. It was the team's best finish in 41 years. Individually, the squad's top two runners earned First Team All-SCIAC honors for finishing in the top ten.

For these accomplishments, the Caltech Men's Cross Country coaches — led by head coach Kelli Blake — received SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

Leading the charge for the Beavers was junior Rohun Agrawal, who finished runner-up in the race among all 131 athletes competing. The star averaged just over 5:00 minutes per mile across the 8,000-km (4.97mi) course, crossing the line at 24 minutes and 53.4 seconds. 

Senior Joey Litvin came across second for the squad, tackling the course in 25:20.0 to earn a monumental tenth place finish.

Agrawal and Litvin were named First Team All-SCIAC for their top ten finishes in the meet. This is the second straight year of All-SCIAC honors for Litvin, who earned a Second Team nod in 2022.

Senior Kyle McCandless finished third for the Beavers; the Massachusetts native ran a personal-best 26:19.9 to nab 31st place overall.

Junior Miles Jones (41st, 26:48.9) and first-year Ryan Fortin (42nd, 26:51.6) rounded out the Beavers' top-five.

Third place for the men was the best SCIAC team finish in 41 years; Agrawal's runner-up finish is the best individual placing since Dan Kleiman won in 1996.

"We just did a great job of competing," said Blake. "We always say, 'things don't have to be perfect to be good.' Two of our normal top-7 had off days but we still had the depth to have our best team finish in 40-plus years," said Blake. "I think that says a lot about the culture the men's team is cultivating."

"We went into this meet having been pretty handily beaten by five other teams in the conference all year," she said. "However, the way we train and compete set us up for a strong finish, and I think the team has really bought into the philosophy of how we approach the season physically and emotionally."

The team's average time of 26:02 for the course stands as the fastest in program history.

The women also ran an excellent race as they earned a hard-fought fifth place finish. The team used each other to push forward throughout the race, putting an exceptional three Beavers in the top-20. For their performances, the three Beavers earned Second Team All-SCIAC honors.

Sophomore Gigi Pistilli led the way for Caltech, crossing the line at 23:27.5 to finish 16th overall out of 104 total athletes. The star ran a brilliant race as she tackled the 6,000km (3.73mi) course averaging 6:17.5 per mile.

Following just moments later was junior Sophie Dalfonzo, who placed 18th overall with a blazing time of 23:36.5. Senior Katy Chu placed 20th with a time of 23:44.6.

Pistilli and Dalfonzo pick up All-SCIAC honors for the second year in a row while Chu earns her first. Caltech was just one of two teams in the conference to put three runners in the top-20.

Senior Lauren Garriques came across fourth for the Beavers and 24th overall (23:52.0) while sophomore Elisa Grillo rounded out the top-five with in 46th (24:58.9).

The squad posted 110 total points, just narrowly missing out on a top-three spot in what was a high-level race with multiple teams performing strongly. The team averaged 23:55 for the course.

Blake was pleased with how the women performed in the race.

"That group just keeps showing up for each other in the best possible ways," said Blake. "Watching the race unfold I knew the team race was tight and indeed, we ended up 10 points from third. I'm excited they have one more opportunity to see what they can do."

Next up for the two teams is the NCAA West Regional Meet on Saturday, Nov. 11 in Riverside. The men's race starts at 8 a.m. while the women race at 9 a.m. Stay tuned to GoCaltech.com for updates.

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