CLAREMONT, Calif. – Cross Country competed at the 2026 SCIAC Championships on Friday, October 30, hosted at Pomona-Pitzer. The women's team repeated their success a season ago with a third-place finish, while the men improved to fifth place.
 
Jack Elfenbaum's success continued at the conference meet. He finished in fifth place, marking the second-straight season with a top five finish for the senior – he was second a season ago.
 
The women were led by first year Victoria Vahi who placed 18^th with a time of 22:36.9. She'll earn Second Team All-SCIAC honors when the awards are officially announced later next week.
 
Vahi paced herself with the Tiger pack at the beginning of the race, then began separating as the day wore on. It was a group effort to help Oxy place third. While Missy LeClaire earned a clear program second-place finish, third-through-fifth place was separated by less than one minute. Anne Madole, Mia Zawinsy and Lucinda Toft all finished in the mid 23 to mid 24 mark.
 
FULL SCORING | WOMEN (6K)
18^th – Victoria Vahi – 22:36.9
21^st – Missy LeClaire – 23:03.6
29^th – Anne Madole – 23:41.1
43^rd – Mia Zawinsy – 24:03.3
57^th – Lucinda Toft – 24:33.3
 
On the men's side, Elfenbaum's late-race heroics propelled him into the top five. He sat around 20^th through the first half of the race, then turned on the jets, moving into 10^th, then seventh and eventually fifth. Elfenbaum will be officially named First Team All-SCIAC for the second season in a row next week. He will close his career as a three-time All-SCIAC runner.
 
The rest of the Tigers ran well as a unit, with the next four finishing within 11 places and just nine seconds separated Ethan Chock in 33^rd and Emil Lev-Twombly in 44^th.
 
FULL SCORING | MEN (8K)
5^th – Jack Elfenbaum – 25:08.2
33^rd – Ethan Chock – 26:43.5
37^th – Ian Anderson – 26:45.6
40^th – Gavin Jensen – 26:48.6
44^th – Emil Lev-Twombly – 26:52.9
 
The Tigers are back in action in two weekends at the NCAA Division III West Regionals, hosted by Whitworth in Spokane on November 14. The Tigers will compete with a trip to the NCAA Championships on the line.
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