2007 Cross Country Preview
The Whittier College Cross Country program boasts a tradition of
success dating back to the early years of the college. More
recently, periods of excellence have been witnessed by both men's
and women's teams. A most memorable five-year period in Lady
Poet history was 1990 to 1994. A SCIAC best 23 all-conference
performances were recorded during this era, with Helen Garcia named
SCIAC runner-of-the-year (1994) and Tara Barnhart becoming a
two-time national qualifier (1992 & 1994). Both Garcia
and Barnhart were members of Whittier's first women's team, in any
sport, to qualify for the national championships (1994). The
Nationals team honored Whittier College as one of the smallest
colleges to ever qualify for a NCAA DIII Women's Cross Country
Championships.
The 2007 women's team is led by sophomore Darline Partida who
earned All-SCIAC honors last season. Also returning for the
Poets is 2004 all-conference runner Julia Tyack and junior
Adrianna Durflinger, who was one of the Poets most consistent
runners last year.
The men's program enjoyed exceptional periods of success just prior
to the women's dominance and soon after. In 1990, Jeff
Henderson placed fourth at the NCAA West Region Meet and qualified
for the national championships. The 1990 team narrowly missed
earning a ticket to nationals and placed second at the SCIAC.
In 1997, six men placed on the All-West Region Team and 1998 found
Juan Rodriguez taking the SCIAC title in route to another Nationals
appearance. The 1999 team was arguably Whittier's best in
recent history with a star-studded cast that would set several
records. Taking the SCIAC title was Matthew Stuart who would
go on to run a blistering 24:56 8K at the national
championships. The '99 team also included Luis Ibarra who
would become one of the few runners in SCIAC history to earn 1st
team all-conference recognition all four years.
The 2007 men's squad graduated three of their top seven runners
from a year ago and sent two more to study abroad this
season. Leading the way will be all-conference hopefuls,
sophomore Raphael Rodriguez and senior Nick Daum.
