Claremont, Calif. (November 21, 2011) — Alex Johnson ’13 concluded his fall season with the Men’s Cross Country team by finishing with a time of 26:01 at the NCAA Division III Championships in Winneconne, Wisconsin, coming in 212th out of all Division III runners in the country. Johnson, who was an all-region selection and qualified for the nationals for the second straight season, will be back in action in the spring for the Outdoor Track and Field team.
A young nucleus of Pitzer athletes has played a key role for the Women’s Basketball team in the early part of the 2011-12 season. Ruthie Shapiro PI ’15 led the Sagehens in scoring with 11 points in a 57-44 loss to Pacific (Ore.) on Friday, as she knocked down her first three three-point attempts. Shaprio and Emi Hashizume ’14 each had six steals to lead a strong defensive effort, while Hashizume also added 12 points in an opening day loss to San Diego Christian. The Sagehens will also be in action at the David Wells Classic, facing Southwestern at CMS on Friday, and UC Santa Cruz at home on Saturday.
The Men’s Basketball team had its home opener on Saturday and took defending national champion St. Thomas (Minn.) into double-overtime before falling 82-79. Stephan Castro ’13 and Po Grant ’13 contributed to the strong performance, while the Sagehens look forward to adding Xavyr Moss ’13 (away on study group) and Adrian Brandon ’15 (injured) to its backcourt in December. Moss led the team in scoring last year with 13.9 points per game.
The SCIAC Champion Men’s Water Polo team concluded its season with a win over Redlands in the seventh place match at the Western Water Polo Association Championships this weekend. The Sagehens opened the WWPA by defeating La Verne 13-12 in the opening game, then battled third-seeded Santa Clara deep into the fourth quarter in the quarterfinals before falling 10-6 and closed out the season with an 11-8 win over Redlands in the seventh-place match. Stephen Vint ’15 was named to the WWPA All-Rookie team, while Jason Cox ’13 was the team’s leading goal-scorer by a wide margin.
In other postseason honors, Erik Munzer ’13 was named first-team All-SCIAC for the Men’s Soccer team after serving as a team captain from his center back position. Ellen Yamasaki ’15, meanwhile, was named the SCIAC Freshman of the Year for the Volleyball team, as well as earning a spot on the All-SCIAC second team.
