LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — Four Caltech Cross Country athletes earned All-SCIAC distinction for their performances at the SCIAC Championships this past Saturday, the conference officially announced in a pair of releases this week. Two Caltech men and two Caltech women received the prestigious end-of-season honor.
Seniors Sophie Dalfonzo (Fair Haven N.J. / Biotechnology & Rumson-Fair Regional), Rohun Agrawal (Cupertino, Calif. / Monte Vista) and Miles Jones (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo) along with junior Gigi Pistilli (Portola Valley, Calif. / Woodside) each claimed All-SCIAC honors for finishing in the top-20 in the men's and women's races, respectively.
Dalfonzo and Agrawal achieved First Team recognition for placing in the top 10, with Dalfonzo placing eighth in the women's race and Agrawal grabbing ninth in the men's race. Jones and Pistilli collected Second Team honors for finishing between 11th and 20th, with both athletes earning 12th in their respective competitions.
Dalfonzo nabbed eighth out of 105 finishers after dominating the 6,000-meter course (~3.73 mile) course in 22 minutes, 44.1 seconds; she averaged 6:05.8 per mile. The result was one for the record books as Dalfonzo became the first woman in program history to achieve All-Conference honors all four years. The standout earned Second Team recognition her first three seasons.
Pistilli crossed the line less than 20 seconds after her teammate with a time of 23:01.3; her 12th place finish marks the third consecutive year in which she has attained All-SCIAC honors.
Agrawal led the charge for the men, placing ninth out of 104 athletes. The star traversed the 8,000-meter (~4.97 mile) course in 25:05.6 with an average of 5:02.9 per mile. This is his second straight year in which he has attained First Team All-SCIAC.
Jones came across moments later, finishing very well with a time of 25:23.4 to grab 12th overall and destroy his previous best time of 26:01.0. It is the senior's first All-SCIAC nod.
It is the fifth straight season in which at least two Caltech women athletes achieved All-SCIAC honors and the second straight in which two Caltech men received the distinction.
In the team race, the men finished third overall to tie the program's highest result in 42 years; the group's average time of 25:55 comes in as the second-fastest in school history. The women's fourth place showing is one of the strongest in the history of the program; the team finished just one place away from tying their all-time best SCIAC Championships performance.
Find the full SCIAC Women's Cross Country All-Conference Award release here and the men's release here.
Follow Caltech XCTF on Instagram and Twitter/X and follow Caltech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
