The University of Redlands men's and women's cross country teams each earned a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships during Saturday's race at Prado Park. Five Bulldogs finished among the top 20 to garner All-Conference honors.
As was the case all season, junior Maria Ramirez (Orange, CA) led the way for the Bulldogs in the women's 6K with a stellar third-place effort. With two runners on her hip as she came down the final stretch, she pulled away to break into the top three with a time of 23:29.0. She was two-tenths of a second in front of the next finisher and 1.3 seconds behind the second-place runner. She also improved upon her previous-best time at this event by 3.4 seconds. By finishing among the top 10, Ramirez becomes a three-time First-Team All-SCIAC honoree.
Senior Ellie Ramsey (Waterbury, VT) put together a 17th-place run in her final conference championship meet to collect an All-SCIAC Second-Team nod. She made a great push near the end of the race to stop the clock at 24:37.4, which marked a 38-second improvement from a year ago.
First-year Isabella Glenn (Seattle, WA) made her debut at this meet with a 24th-place time of 25:11.4, while sophomore Greta Jursch (Agoura Hills, CA) recorded a time of 25:49.6 to take 42nd. Completing the scoring for the women, sophomore Desiree Cadena (San Jose, CA) ran a 26:22.2.
In the men's 8K, sophomore Tucker Cargile (Denver, CO) made a strong kick on the final turn to stop the clock in 26:46.7 for a 10th-place finish. He dominated his time from a year ago by nearly 40 seconds and finished among the First-Team All-SCIAC honorees in his second season.
Senior Joseph Esparza (Arcata, CA) kept Cargile in his sights and finished close behind with a time of 26:48.8 in 12th place. Senior Benjamin Casey (Highland Park, IL) also turned in a strong performance, as he pushed for an 18th-place time of 26:58.7. They each collected All-SCIAC Second-Team honors as well.
Sophomores Matthew Casey (Highland Park, IL) and Trevor Brouelette (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) rounded out the top-five Bulldogs, with each running sub-28-minute times to up the ante on last year's results. M. Casey crossed the line in 27:54.9 for 38th place, while Brouelette closely followed in 41st with a time of 27:59.8.
This marked the Bulldog men's best finish at the SCIAC Championships since 2009.
Redlands looks forward to competing in the NCAA West Regional Championships on Saturday, November 10, in Walla Walla, WA, at 9 a.m.