PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech women's cross country team posted an excellent 2023 season that saw three All-SCIAC nods, a fifth-place conference meet showing and a host of superb finishes.

It was the fifth straight season in which the team nabbed fifth or higher at the SCIAC Championship meet and the fourth straight season in which at least two Beavers secured the All-SCIAC distinction, awarded to the top 20 finishers at the conference championship meet.

Two of those athletes — junior Sophie Dalfonzo (Fair Haven, N.J. / Biotechnology & Rumson-Fair Regional) and sophomore Gigi Pistilli (Portola Valley, Calif. / Woodside) — ran times which put them No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, on the program's all-time 6,000-meter record board.

The women saw the results of their summer training on Sep. 2 as they took on the Redlands Invitational to kick off the competition schedule. The women destroyed the 4,500-meter course, finishing runners-up out of five teams.

Pistilli, Dalfonzo and senior Lauren Garriques (Lake Forest, Ill. / Lake Forest) finished 5-6-7 in the 47-athlete race, with all three athletes finishing between 18:05.20 and 18:08.40.

Senior Katy Chu (Los Gatos, Calif. / Saint Francis) soon crossed the line at 18:20.20 for tenth before sophomore Elisa Grillo (Cypress, Texas / Bridgeland) rounded out the Beavers' top five, earning 15th place overall (19:14.60).

The group next took on the large-scale UC Riverside Invitational, where the women placed ninth out of 21 programs in the Open Division 5K.

Dalfonzo led the group with a stunning 18:30.2 performance, good for the fastest cross country 5K in program history and 20th place out of 237 finishers. The standout averaged 5:57.3 per mile; she placed seventh among Div. III athletes.

Pistilli followed with a quick time of 18:48.4, earning her 30th place and the No. 4 spot on the Caltech Women's XC record boards for the 5K. Garriques came in just under 19 minutes, crossing the line at 18:59.1 for 42nd before Chu finished in 19:31.9 for 78th and Grillo ran a 19:55.1 for 107th.

The Institute returned to action just a week later as they took on The Master's Invitational on Sep. 23. It was a historic showing for the Beavers, who saw some of the fastest performances in program history en route to sixth-place in a 16-team field which included squads from Div. I and II institutions. The Beavers finished third among Div. III programs.

It was again Dalfonzo who led the way for the Beavers, tackling the 6,000 meters in a blazing 22:28.50 to put her name fourth all-time in program history for the distance. The New Jersey native placed 28th overall out of 194 athletes and tenth among Div. III.

Pistilli finished just seconds later at 22:32.50 to finish 31st overall and 12th for Div. III; with the time, she moves up to No. 5 all-time on the program's 6K record boards.

Chu came across in 47th (23:19.50) while Garriques was 63rd (23:43.80) and Grillo was 95th (24:29.40). The five scorers averaged a time of 23:18, nearly breaking the program's all-time 6K record.

Caltech went on to send some of its top runners to the Oct. 7 NCAA Pre-Nationals Invitational in Newville, Pennsylvania for a final tune-up before postseason action. Caltech earned 23rd place as they ran against some of the most talented athletes and teams in the country.

Leading the way for the Beavers was Pistilli, who earned 111th place out of 366 athletes, scoring 99 points crossing at 23:50.7. The Beaver ran a tactical race as she passed the 1-mile marker in 159th before picking off other runners and moving up 48 places.

Dalfonzo came across the line just a few moments later, scooping 126th place with a time of 23:57.4 while Chu secured 135th place (24:04.5) in the third spot. Grillo finished in 169th (24:34.3) before first-year Zara Kanold-Tso (Bethesda, Md. / Winston Churchill) rounded out the Beavers' top five, collecting 300th with a time of 27:02.3. First-year Layla Adeli (Pacific Palisades, Calif. / Palisades Charter) finished just 1.1 seconds later to earn 302nd.

"Everyone ran with grit," said head coach Kelli Blake. "This was a super challenging course and a stacked field and I felt like [the team] really made the most of the opportunity. We got to compete against DIII teams that we haven't ever competed against and I think proved to ourselves that, going forward, we should have big goals."

Blake's training plan paid off at the pivotal SCIAC Championship Meet, where three Beavers secured top-20 finishes to earn All-Conference honors. The squad posted 110 total points to place fifth, just narrowly missing out on a top-three spot with Occidental College scoring 102 for fourth and Pomona-Pitzer scoring 100 for third.

It was Pistilli who led the Beavers with a time of 23:27.5 to place 16th overall out of 104 athletes; she traversed the tough 6,000-meter course averaging 6:17.5 per mile.

Dalfonzo came through moments later in 18th overall with a time of 23:36.5 before Chu came across in 20th at 23:44.6. Garriques came across fourth for the Beavers and 24th overall (23:52.0) while Grillo rounded out the top-five in 46th (24:58.9).

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

"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."

The Beavers posted another strong performance in their final meet of the year as they nabbed 11th place at the NCAA West Regional Championships. Like the SCIAC Championships, the meet proved to be another close battle with the teams placing ninth through 11th finishing within 29 points of each other.

Dalfonzo led the Beavers in 38th out of 169 athletes after crossing at 23:35.7. The junior passed the 1600m (~1 mile) mark in 38th and stayed steady for the entire race; she never dropped outside the top-40 at any of the split marks. It was the second straight year in which Dalfonzo has placed in the top-40 at the regional meet.

Garriques saved one of the most significant results of her collegiate career for her final race, finishing just moments after Dalfonzo in 41st after running a 23:38.7. Pistilli came through in 50th at 23:53.3 while Grillo was 80th (24:47.7) and Chu was 99th (25:10.7).

Blake came away impressed with how the team fought against such high-level opponents.

"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.

It was regardless an impressive conclusion for the program, who lose three seniors to graduation this year but will return a significant number of returners on top of a promising incoming class. Stay tuned for an official schedule release later this summer.

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