BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence College Cross Country programs had a pair of standout campaigns in 2025, culminating in a Skyline Championship for the women's program on October 29th.
Awards and Recognition
- Sarah Lawrence Head Coach Tom Diliberto was named the 2025 Skyline Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year after leading the program to its first-ever Skyline Championship
- Senior Perry Yun took home Skyline First Team All-Conference honors after a fourth-place finish at the Championship Meet, the program's best-ever placement at the Championship
- The standout senior also earned a pair of rookie of the week awards and a runner of the week award throughout the season
- Caitlin McCabe also donned First Team All-Conference honors after finishing seventh in the meet
- Whitney Hall wrapped up a trio of top-ten finishes for SLC, placing ninth and earning Second Team All-Conference recognition
- Ivo Duwin took home the Skyline's Men's Cross Country Elite 19 Award, awarded to the Championship participant with the highest GPA
- Stella Lissak was named to the Skyline's All-Sportsmanship Team
Throughout the Season
The Gryphons started out the season with a gauntlet in the Vassar Season Starter, placing competitively while taking on powerhouse programs such as NYU and the hosting Brewers. Yun led the way with a top-30 finish just ahead of Xhafa before Sinclair,
Sadie de Beer,
Dahlia Shephard and
Haley Balka all posted top-50 times in a stacked field of participants. The team then got their first taste of the Purchase XC Trail on September 6th, part of a 15-team field including eight fellow Skyline schools. The Coast Guard Academy dominated, placing 1-7, but the Gryphons dominated the remainder of the field, finishing nearly 70 points ahead of the third-place team. The Gryphons saw Yun, Hall, McCabe and Xhafa finish in order from eleventh to fourteenth place, all crossing the finish line in under 18 minutes while taking on a 4,000 meter course. Sinclair and Moya rounded out the scorers for the day with 21st- and 29th-place runs, dominating the remainder of the competition as strong showings from
Kallisti Milatou-Fakountou,
Dahlia Shephard and company all were added bonuses for the team after a strong top six. In meet number three, the Gryphons headed to Bard College to take on a six-team field that included national contenders Vassar and New Paltz while getting the team's first look at USMMA, a perennial Skyline contender. The Brewers and Hawks topped the field as expected, but the Gryphons continued a strong season with four top-20 finishers to earn a third-place finish and a statement victory against the Mariners. Yun once again paced the team with a 12th-place run, with Xhafa and McCabe just behind in 14th and 15th respectively. Hall continued a strong first campaign with the team by finishing 20th before Sinclair and Moya once again showcased the team's depth with an additional pair of top-30 times. Once again, Milatou-Fakountou, Shephard,
Haley Balka,
Genevieve Clark and more posted impressive times, demonstrating the team's depth. The team took to the course at Van Cortland in the Queensborough CC Invitational, once again matching up with USMMA in a 20-team field featuring eight total Skyline schools. The team finished fifth overall and just one spot behind USMMA despite missing both Yun and Xhafa. McCabe continued to place well, finishing in 14th overall while Hall was just behind in 23rd. Sinclair, Moya and Milatou-Fakountou posted top-50 runs as well as the team continued to build on early-season success heading into October. In the final month of the season, the team took on the Purchase trail once again in another 4k version of the championship meet trail. The Gryphons dominated, with Yun, McCabe and Hall taking the top three spots while Sinclair, Moya, Milatou-Fakountou, Shepherd, Clark, Balka, Brandhorst and Lissak gave the Gryphons 11 of the top 13 finishers, building confidence and gearing up for the final regular-season meet of the season. The team did not stop there, rounding out the regular-season slate by placing second in a 23-team field that included seven fellow Skyline teams. Yun continued to dominate with a fourth-place overall finish as McCabe and Hall joined the senior with top-20 times. Sinclair, Moya and Milatou-Fakountou continued to contribute with strong finishes as well, giving the team a strong showing in the final meet before Skylines.
Championship Meet
The Gryphons returned to the trails at Purchase College one final time for the Skyline Championship Meet to wrap up the season on October 26th. The Gryphons got out to a good start, with Yun, McCabe and Hall all near the front of the pack as the runners made their way around the track. As the finishers started to reach the final stretch, a pair of USMMA runners led the pack, placing in the top two positions. Yun was not far behind, crossing the line fourth for a program-best placement while McCabe and Hall crossed the line less than a minute later to give the team a trio of top-ten finishers. The Mariners also got a third top-ten time, giving them 11 points to SLC's 20 after each team's top trio crossed the line and putting the Gryphons behind early. USMMA's fourth runner placed 15th to give the Mariners another solid placement, but it would be SLC's depth to help the Gryphons surge. Moya and Sinclair finished in 20th and 21st, giving the Gryphons a final score of 61 points with the Mariners sitting at 23 with just one runner remaining. The depth of SLC continued to shine as Milatou-Fakountou turned in a 26th-place finish despite being the team's sixth runner. USMMA's final runner crossed the line in 43rd place, giving the Mariners 66 points and declaring the Gryphons as the 2025 Skyline Women's Cross Country Champions. The remainder of SLC continued to impress, with Balka and Lissak finishing just behind the fifth USMMA runner while Clark, Langford and Brandhorst all turned in top-60 times to give the champions 11 top-60 runners. In the men's race, the Gryphons each turned it on at the end, with four of the team's five runners moving up in position between the midway point and the final results. Morel led the way in before Duwin, Carey, Matonti and Wright followed behind as the group all scored between 41 and 57 points.
Records and Top Times
Yun's Skyline Championship performance placed the senior as the program's fifth-fastest runner in the 6,000 meter class while an October 18th run at Sunken Meadow Park placed the San Francisco product seventh-fastest in the 5,000 meter class. McCabe and Hall posted the eighth- and ninth-best 6,000 meter performances in the season-ending meet while
Isabella Moya and
Al Sinclair joined the top 20 in the final two positions thanks to strong performances to wrap up the season.
Ali Xhafa's time of 27:14 in late September placed the senior 14th on the list as six runners made their way into the top-20 spots for 6,000 meter finishes. McCabe and Hall also joined Yun on the 5,000 meter leaderboard with the former placing 13th and the latter sitting at 16th after strong showing at the same October 18th race. As far as Skyline Championship times are concerned, Yun's time ranks fourth while McCabe and Hall sit at eighth- and ninth-place respectively.
On the men's side,
Aiden Morel's showing at the Skyline Championships made the junior the 19th-fastest 8,000 meter runner in program history. Morel now owns two top-15 Skyline Championship meet performances in program history, sandwiching teammate
Gavin Wright in 14th while Duwin and
Noah Carey also join the list in 18th- and 19th-place respectively.
For full records of both programs, please view the SLC XC Record Book
linked here
2026 Season Outlook
The team will graduate a slew of standout seniors, including a trio of all-conference performers from the women's program.
Caitlin McCabe,
Perry Yun and
Ali Xhafa will all depart in addition to
Al Sinclair,
Dahlia Shephard, Kallisti Milatou-Fakounou,
Stella Lissak andÂ
Emery Brandhorst while the men's team will lose
Noah Carey's steady contributions. Plenty of talent will return in 2026 for the Gryphons, as
Haley Balka,
Genevieve Clark,
Sadie de Beer,
Ella Langford and
Isabella Moya join all-conference runner
Whitney Hall as juniors, while the men's team returns
Ivo Duwin,
Thomas Matonti,
Aiden Morel and
Gavin Wright.
