Leopard Women Place Sixth At Multi-Duals

The University of La Verne women's cross country team placed sixth overall at the SCIAC Multi-Duals, setting a team time school record Saturday at La Mirada Park.

The Leos raced to a team clocking of 2:03.42 to establish a school record for the second time this season.  Overall, the Leopard women finished the meet with a dual mark of 2-5. 

La Verne placed behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7-0), Whittier (6-1), Redlands (5-2), Pomona-Pitzer (4-3) and Occidental (3-4), while finishing ahead of Cal Lutheran (1-6) and Caltech (0-7).

Leading the way for the Leopards was sophomore Katie Barrese, who earned a Top 20 overall finish by placing 18th overall in a time of 23:26.17 on the 6-kilometer course.   Teammate Micaela Castillo was 37th, clocking in at 24:23.72. 

Junior Brigette Blazys enjoyed a solid performance for the Leopards, placing 43rd overall in a time of 24:50.56. 

The Leopards also received strong contributions from Yanet Urciaga and Sydney Rose.  Urciaga turned in a 25:17.27 performance to finish 55th overall while Rose was 61st overall, completing her race in 25:44.81.

As a team, La Verne also enjoyed its best-ever finish at La Mirada Park with the 2:03.42 effort.  The previous best at La Mirada was 2:08.29 established in 2006. 

The Leopards accomplished the school record feat despite the absence of Shelby Sato, who sat out the Multi-Dual due to injury.  "Having Shelby out hurt us quite a bit," said Leopard head coach Mike Atwood.  "But (the team) responded well and ran some great races."