Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) men’s and women’s cross-country swept the SCIAC Championships on Friday, Oct. 30, marking the first time since 1979 that both programs won the conference title in the same year. With the win, the women’s team ended Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ (CMS) 15-year winning streak, while the men extended their own run to six straight championships.
Both teams entered the race with the shared goal of bringing home a conference title together. For the women’s team, the win was the payoff after years of falling short to their neighbors across Sixth Street.
“It was insane, like so much better than we could have expected,” Fiona Bodkin PO ’27, who finished eighth in 22:14.4, said. “We just blew CMS out of the park, I’m not going to lie.”
The women’s team dominated, placing all seven of their top runners in the top 10. The men’s team, although successful in their goal of securing the program’s 27th SCIAC championship, faced a tighter race, beating CMS 33-39.
The Sagehens credited their success to a culture of collective effort. Eva Novy-Hildesley PO ’27, who finished seventh in 22:09.8, said the relationships built during training carried athletes through the hardest moments on race day.
“As much as cross-country is an individual sport, it’s also such a team sport,” Novy-Hildesley said. “Throughout our workouts, we all carry each other along when things get hard. We have each other to kind of lean on.”
That support followed the Sagehens onto the course. Midway through the race, Bodkin rolled her ankle but kept pushing.
“I’m just running it for my teammates at this point,” Bodkin said. “So when I was hurt, I was just like, ‘This is it. Let’s just go.’”
The team made sure to highlight this spirit in their preparation. In the days leading up to the championships, team members like Ava Gowder PZ ’28 emphasized how every athlete on the team contributed to the end result.
“It’s not just scoring [top] five. It’s not just the top seven. It’s every single person on the team and the energy that brings,” Gowder, who finished with a time of 25:06.3, said. “You can feel that energy on the course and just know that your teammates in front of you and behind you are also hurting and are in it with you.”
Winning the SCIAC title had long been on the Sagehens’ calendar. The team had circled the meet as a major goal over the summer and trained toward it all season.
“We’ve been training for it,” P-P head coach Emma DeLira said. “We knew we had the capability of achieving what we did, but on the morning of, there’s always doubt and uncertainty.”
On the men’s side, P-P faced a competitive CMS team in a race that stayed close throughout. Peter Neid PO ’27, who finished sixth overall in 25:18.1, said he and teammate Connor Spellman PO ’29 worked together as the field began to separate.
“All the SCIAC teams fought really hard, so it was a close, competitive race,” Neid said. “Once we saw the race had broken apart, we just started to move up together.”
Despite the pressure of defending a five-year streak, Neid said the team’s approach stayed the same, balancing serious training with a supportive environment.
“We have a consistent culture all throughout the season, which is a really nice balance between levity and humor and also, like, we take our sport seriously,” he said. “I think that lends itself nicely to a SCIAC race because it’s competitive, but it’s also a special camaraderie experience.”
The consistency extended beyond the current roster. Former Sagehens returned to Claremont to cheer on the team, and for one, the women’s win felt personal. Rhea Braganza PO ’26, who came back to watch, said the victory was a goal she and her teammates had chased for years.
“Beating CMS has always been a dream of ours,” Braganza said. “I thought we had a good chance of beating them, but I wasn’t expecting a landslide.”
With both titles secured, the Sagehens now turn their attention to the NCAA Division III West Regionals.
“After seeing today and seeing how strong we are, I really do think we can do it,” Bodkin said. “I have full faith that we can do it.”
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