RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Caltech Cross Country competed at the 2023 NCAA West Regional Championships on Saturday morning at the Riverside City Cross Country Course, where the men earned a phenomenal sixth-place finish while the women earned a stellar 11th place.

Individually, junior Rohun Agrawal of the men's team posted a historic sixth-place performance out of 172 total athletes, automatically qualifying him for the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 18 in Carlisle, Pa.

The men's team earned the program's fastest team time average in history (25:48), smashing the previous best time of 26:02 set by the squad at the same course two weeks earlier. The team's sixth-place regional performance is the program's highest in recent history; they finished third among SCIAC teams.

Agrawal led the charge for the men, with the star tackling the 8000-meter course in a blazing 24 minutes, 49.0 seconds. The junior's time was just 1.6 seconds off the all-time program 8K record, set by himself earlier this season.

Agrawal crossed the 1600-meter mark (~1 mile) of the race in 31st place, clocking in at 4:59.6 before picking off runners ahead of him as the race progressed. The Cupertino native destroyed the middle part of the race, as he moved up from 27th place at the 2.9K mark all the way to 14th just 1300 meters later.

It was a perfectly-paced performance from the standout, who ultimately crossed the finish line in sixth place overall to book his ticket to the National Championships.

Senior Joey Litvin finished second for the team after posting an outstanding 16th place, burning through the course in 25:04.6.

Litvin, who earned an individual bid to the National Championships in 2022, will now wait to hear if he will join Agrawal at the 2023 meet. The NCAA awards bids to the top seven individuals from each regional race who do not already qualify via a team, though any advancing at-large teams from the region have yet to be announced, with only the winning team auto-qualifying. Because Agrawal finished sixth among everyone, he qualifies regardless.

Senior Kyle McCandless came across third for Caltech and placed 36th overall with a quick time of 25:42.7. This serves as an incredible achievement for McCandless, a member of the Caltech men's tennis team who only joined the cross country program his junior year and balances training for both sports.

Junior Thomas MacLean (70th, 26:34.6) and first-year Ryan Fortin (83rd, 26:47.0) rounded out the top-five for the Beavers.

Head coach Kelli Blake was quite pleased with how the team overcame challenges to come up with such a strong performance on the biggest stage yet this year.

"The men's line up was in flux because of a couple of illness and injury issues," said Blake. "But the seven that ran really did a nice job of executing and being tough."

The women's team also recorded a speedy day in what was an incredibly close battle between a number of the nation's strongest teams.

Junior Sophie Dalfonzo led the way for Caltech as she posted a superb 38th place finish among 169 total athletes. The all-time program record-holder in the 5000m and 10000m on the track, Dalfonzo traversed the 6000-meter course in a swift 23 minutes and 35.7 seconds.

The New Jersey native passed the 1600m (~1 mile) mark in 38th and stayed steady for the entire race; the standout never dropped outside the top-40 at any of the split marks. This is the second straight year in which Dalfonzo has placed in the top-40 at the regional meet.

Senior Lauren Garriques posted one of her most significant collegiate results to date as she crossed the line moments later; the Beaver earned a time of 23:38.7 to grab 41st overall.

Sophomore Gigi Pistilli nabbed third for Caltech and 50th overall with a time of 23:55.3, while fellow sophomore Elisa Grillo finished 80th overall (24:47.7) and senior Katy Chu finished fifth for the Beavers and 99th overall (25:10.7).

Blake came away impressed with how the team fought and expressed her excitement about this group moving forward.

"I thought Sophie, Lauren, and Elisa had great races — emptying the emotional and physical well on a tough course twice in a row is a tough thing to do," said Blake. "I was hoping we could crack the top-8 as a team but we would have needed a pretty perfect day to do that," she said. "I'm thankful we had everyone consistently healthy this season and I'm looking forward to [track & field] with this group."

Caltech will now wait for an official announcement on Agrawal and possible others' qualification to the NCAA Championships. Stay tuned to GoCaltech.com and Caltech XCTF on Instagram for updates.

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