HOME OF BULLDOG CROSS COUNTRY- 11 Combined SCIAC Championships

Juniors Katie Ostrinski (Riverside, CA), Heather Mayer (Spring Valley, CA) and Jeremy Kalmus (New Orleans, LA) of the University of Redlands women’s and men’s cross country teams garnered U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors as the two squads placed 10th and ninth, respectively, at the NCAA Division III West Regionals in Claremont on Saturday morning.

Held on the campus of Pomona College and hosted by Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, the meet featured a 6K run in the women’s competition and an 8K run in the men’s race.

A total of 17 teams competed in the women’s race while 16 squads took to the course in the men’s 8K.

Ostrinski paced the Bulldog women, placing 23rd in a season-best time of 23:45.98. Mayer followed closely behind, clocking a 29th-place standard of 23:51.08. Both performances proved to be worthy of All-Region status.

Covering the course in 24:18.14, senior Stephanie Mera (Redlands, CA) helped boost the Bulldogs’ standing by ranking 47th overall.

In addition, senior Kelly Luck (Boulder, CO) and freshman Madison Smith (Redlands, CA) finished 55th and 59th with respective times of 24:30.35 and 24:48.56.

The Redlands men surprised the field, using strong all-around runs to corral a ninth-place finish.

Kalmus led the way, finishing 29th with a 26:57.19 mark. Senior Jake Baechle (Aurora, OH) and sophomore Duncan Ashby (Goleta, CA) crossed the line in sequence less than a minute later, registering times of 27:30.18 and 27:36.53, respectively. Baechle took 44th overall while Ashby nabbed the 45th-place spot.

Alicia Freese of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges won the women’s race while Jackson Brainerd from Colorado College stopped the clock first on the men’s side. Whitworth University (WA) captured the women’s team crown while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges reigned supreme in the men’s team standings.

Both Kalmus and Ostrinski await notification of a potential trip to the 2009 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships as individual runners. The NCAA will select the top seven remaining runners in each region that do not represent a team invited to the national meet. Selections for the national championships will be announced tomorrow.

The USTFCCCA bestows All-Region honors upon the top 35 runners in each race.