Women take fifth, men ninth, and Regional Preview

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Whittier College cross country teams returned to action this weekend at the NCAA West Regional Preview meet. The women, who are ranked No. 10 in the region, finished fifth out of 12 teams while the men came in ninth out of 11 teams.

The women landed two runners in the Top 20 overall. Michele Callaway ran a 23:37 to place seventh while Candace Wray clocked in at 24:16 for 15th place.

Molly Litherland finished third for the Poet women with a 26th place finish in a time of 24:44. Christine Verduzco, Eva Aguilar, Jamie Slingluff and Carly Tillery were the final scoring runners for Whittier.

Verduzco ran a 25:19 (38th), Aguilar a 25:36 (46th), Slingluff a 25:40 (48th) and Tillery a 25:43 (49th) in the 6K run.

The women had a field of 116 runners.

The men were led by Travis Airola who ran a 27:12 in the 8k race. He finished 24th overall out of 107 runners.

Kevin Mancilla placed 44th with a time of 27:55, Juan Bustos ran a 28:11 for a 54th place finish, Bryce Holewinski came in at 28:32 in 63rd place, Marco Leone was hot on his trail with a 28:43 in 67th place and Jordan Vega rounded out the scoring for Whittier with a 28:46 for a 69th place finish.

The event took place at Pomona-Pitzer.

The Poets take a week off before they return to action on Saturday, October 17, for the SCIAC Multi-Duals at La Mirada Regional Park.