TSR's 2022 Preseason D3 XC Top 10 Rankings (Women): #8 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens

Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

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The Pomona-Pitzer men have garnered plenty of national attention over recent years -- and rightfully so. The Sagehen men have earned back-to-back cross country national titles as a team and have dominated elite Division Three competition with explosive firepower and never-ending depth.

However, the Pomona-Pitzer women have begun to rise to the top of the national ranks as well, so much so that they have now sparked an argument to be the best combined men's and women's D3 cross country roster in the nation.

And after a huge fall campaign in 2021, no will be surprised this fall when the Sagehens emerge as one of the nation's top teams yet again.

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After being ranked at 24th in the 2021 preseason USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll, the Pomona-Pitzer women made some waves throughout the ensuing season, ultimately outperforming those early expectations.

After a few early-season meets, the Sagehen women ventured to the Cougar Challenge. There, Pomona-Pitzer produced some pleasantly surprising results in a high-profile meet featuring nationally competitive Division Two programs.

Chico State, Stanislaus State and Cal State San Marcos took the top-three spots at the meet, but the ladies of Pomona-Pitzer were not far behind. With Katie Cline and Genevieve DiBari posting a lethal duo of 2nd and 3rd place finishes, the Sagehens comfortably had the best firepower in the field.

After those two women, we did see a gap form, but it was hardly detrimental in a field that was so competitive. The combination of Abigail Loiselle, Clare LeBlanc and Jenna Lange closed out the team's scoring with highly respectable finishes of 21-26-30, giving the Sagehens a total of 78 points, just 18 points out from the overall win.

However, this team's best performance of the season arguably came in an upset victory over Wartburg at the Augustana Interregional Invite.

Now, you could argue that this result was largely because Aubrie FIsher, and Wartburg as a whole, had an uncharacteristically tough day.

And to some extent, you’d be right.

But regardless, you have to give credit to the Sagehens for a mid-season performance that truly gave credence to the idea that they were one of the absolute best teams in the nation.

Following that win, the Sagehens’ ranking skyrocketed to USTFCCCA #3, and while they never really replicated a performance like that again in 2021, their postseason performances still left us plenty to be encouraged about.

Admittedly, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women would easily handle Pomona-Pitzer in the postseason at the SCIAC XC Championships and at the West Regional XC Championships. That, however, didn't stop the Sagehens from earning a very strong 10th place result at the national meet to end their fall campaign.

DiBari continued to thrive on the larger stage with a huge 25th place All-American finish while LeBlanc and Loiselle held their own, finishing 50th and 62nd, respectively, giving Pomona-Pitzer a sneaky-good top-three.

Unfortunately, significant scoring gaps did open up from there with the final two runners in the Sagehens' top-five finishing 140th and 177th in the overall results. But when you consider how many women in the backend of that lineup had "off" days, the actual potential of this team was probably closer to 7th or 8th place.

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Looking ahead to 2022, this year’s team is likely going to be even better than they were last fall -- and that's saying a lot!

When a team that finishes in the top-10 of the national meet returns all seven of their national meet competitors, you can always expect them to be nationally competitive, and maybe even better depending on their lineup structure.

And in 2022, there is no exception for the Pomona-Pitzer women.

The team's top returner from the 2021 cross country season is 25th place All-American, Genevieve DiBari. She also ran 17:20 for 5000 meters and 4:42 for 1500 meters this past spring, so it is probably a safe bet that she will once again be in the All-American conversation this year.

And the best part? There's a good chance that DiBari could still cut-off five to 10 points from last year's national meet result. However, that improvement would probably be the least impactful in terms of what the rest of this lineup can offer.

Other than DiBari, the Sagehens boast a slew of talented athletes who are looking to keep the team's top-five time-spread as small as possible.

The biggest name of that returning group is Lila Cardillo. During the 2019 cross country season, Cardillo finished 12th at the national meet, but has not yet finished a race since pre-COVID.

She returns to the team this year after not being listed on the roster last year, but there are certainly some questions as to what exactly we should expect from her. If we do see a fully healthy and fit version of Cardillo this fall, then that will be a massive boost for this Pomona-Pitzer team on the scoresheet of any meet.

That, of course, is far from guaranteed.

Also returning this fall are Claire LeBlanc and Abigail Loiselle, the 50th and 62nd place finishers from last year’s national meet. These two women don’t have extraordinary track resumes, but if they manage to replicate their 2021 national meet finishes on a more consistent basis, then the Pomona-Pitzer will have a very strong group of four.

LeBlanc and Loiselle will likely be where the greatest scoring value for this team lies. They are the ones who provide stability to the middle portion of this lineup, but they also hold room for greater improvement as far as scoring in certain meets is concerned.

Other names such as Jenna Lange and Kelsey Van Allen are the next two Sagehen finishers from last year’s national meet. They were only 140th and 177th on that stage, but they have both recorded very solid results on the track this spring.

Lange, for instance, ran 4:42 for 1500 meters while Van Allen ran 17:55 for 5000 meters.

Those marks suggest that each of those women have the potential to make a jump in their overall fitness later this fall. And it will be fairly important for at least one of them to do so, especially with the final scoring spots in Pomona-Pitzer's lineup showing extensive vulnerability last fall.

Speaking of “potential to make a jump”, Katie Cline has more of that than anybody else on this team. In fact, she could be the difference between this team being in the top-five or closer to TSR #10.

As a true freshman last fall, Cline was right with Genevieve DiBari for most of the regular season, recording multiple top-10 finishes leading up to the SCIAC XC Championships. However, the postseason was a rough one for the inexperienced rookie as she finished 22nd, 32nd and 234th at her conference, regional and national meets, respectively.

Cline didn’t fare super well on the track this year, either, running 5:09 for 1500 meters and 19:11 for 5000 meters. However, what we do know is that the current sophomore at her best on the grass.

Cline has the potential to be an All-American, but there are still a lot of questions regarding her experience and consistency. If she fully delivers on her full potential throughout the entirety of this fall, specifically in the postseason, then this will be a very scary team to race in 2022.

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Pomona-Pitzer has, at the very least, a top-10 team this fall. On paper, when you account for Lila Cardillo and Katie Cline being at their best, the potential of this squad is so much more than that.

Heck, they might even be a podium team if everything goes perfectly.

Of course, there are still a ton of questions surrounding this team. Can Cardillo return to her 2019 form? Will Cline be able to be the All-American that we know she can be on the national stage? Will the middle lineup scorers or backend pieces make improvements? If so, by how much?

Not all of those questions have to be answered favorably for Pomona-Pitzer in order for them to have success this fall, but at least some of those answers have to end up benefitting the Sagehens.

In a best case scenario, the Sagehens could be fighting for a podium spot this fall. However, we just need to see them flex that talent as a cohesive unit before we place them near that kind of ranking.