Results
BREA, Calif. — The Caltech women's and men's cross country teams officially kicked off their 2024 seasons on Saturday morning at the Mark Covert Classic on the grounds of Carbon Canyon Regional Park.
Neither team competed with their full roster present, though it was an impressive performance from the Caltech athletes who did take on the large-scale meet; both the women and men collected 11th-place performances in their respective races, with both squads finishing fifth among Div. III squads.
The women were led by senior
Sophie Dalfonzo (Fair Haven, N.J. / Biotechnology & Rumson-Fair Regional), who beat out a plethora of Div. I athletes to place 59th among 173 finishers. The program's all-time 5,000-meter record-holder in both cross country and track & field traversed the 5K-course in 19 minutes and 24.3 seconds.
Junior
Camilla Power (Edmonds, Wash. / Saint James) came across second for the Beavers with a personal cross-country best of 20:28.6 while rookie
Katelyn Sadorf (Boca Raton, Fla. Spanish River) crossed the line third for the team at 20:48.3. Fellow first-years
Shrila Esturi (Campbell, Calif. / Saint Francis) and
Hypatia Hamkins (New York / The Brearley School) rounded out Caltech's top five with times of 21:02.3 and 21:31.8, respectively.
The men's race saw rookie
Kyle Berkson (Salt Lake City / Olympus) lead the way for the Institute in his first collegiate race; the newcomer tackled the 8,000-meter course in 26:25.4 to finish 78th out of 176 runners. Sophomore
Ryan Fortin (Londonderry, N.H. / Londonderry) finished next, crossing at 27:01.9.
Senior
Thomas MacLean (Redding, Calif. Shasta) came across as the third Beaver at 27:14.8 while sophomore
Colin La (Potomac, Md. / Winston Churchill) finished moments later at 27:17.7. Junior
Jacob Wolmer (Tenafly, N.J. / Tenafly) scored the final points for the team after crossing the line at 27:28.1.
The two squads will continue their training before racing the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, Sep. 21., with action slated to begin at 7:30 a.m. Stay tuned to GoCaltech.com for more information.
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