HOME OF BULLDOG CROSS COUNTRY- 11 Combined SCIAC Championships

The University of Redlands women’s and men’s cross country teams both finished fourth at the 2009 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships, which was held at Prado Park in Chino on Saturday morning.

The women competed in the 6K distance while the men ran the 8K.

Junior Katie Ostrinski (Riverside, CA) paced the Bulldog women, earning First-Team All-SCIAC laurels. Ostrinski finished a minute and a half off the leader, registering a seventh-place standard of 24:05.47.

Both senior Kelly Luck (Boulder, CO) and junior Heather Mayer (Spring Valley, CA) corralled Second-Team All-Conference honors, crossing the finish line 13th (24:28.58) and 14th (24:29.22), respectively.

Other Redlands runners that finished among the top 40 in the conference included freshman standout Madison Smith (Redlands, CA), who took 24th overall with a time of 24:56.95, and senior Stephanie Mera (Redlands, CA), a two-time All-SCIAC performer who settled for 30th (25:23.82).

The men utilized strong middle-of-the-pack performances to take fourth as a team. Junior Jeremy Kalmus (New Orleans, LA) clocked the lone All-SCIAC time on the squad, earning second-team laurels with an 18th-place 26:57.34. Coming in five seconds later, senior Jake Baechle (Aurora, OH) boasted his top time of the year by 40 seconds with a 21st-place mark of 27:02.78.

In addition, sophomore Duncan Ashby (Goleta, CA) claimed 25th overall with a standard of 27:22.02.

Those who place first through 10th earn First-Team All-SCIAC recognition, and those who place 11th through 20th garner Second-Team All-SCIAC distinction.

Occidental College won the women’s team title while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges captured the men’s crown.

Redlands takes another weekend off from competition before it travels to Claremont on Nov. 14 for the 2009 NCAA Division III West Regional Championships. The women’s 6K race is schedule to start at 9 a.m. while the men’s 8K race is slated to start at 9:45 a.m. For more information on the meet, visit www.d3xc.com.