CMS Athletics Week In Review (3/7 - 3/13/16)

Athletics Week In Review (Full Version)

=============== Winter – Women===================

Women’s Swimming & Diving
Upcoming for CMS are the NCAA Division III Championships, March 16-19 in Greensboro, N.C. Kelly Ngo (CMC ’17) qualified for the Athenas and is competing in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free. Live video is available for the NCAA Championships.

====== Spring – Women========

Women’s Golf
The Athenas finished third in the CSUSM Cougar Invitational on March 1 at the St. Mark Golf Club in San Marcos. Margaret Loncki (CMC ’18) finished tied for second overall with a score of 147 (+3). Mary Bryan Owen (CMC ’19) also cracked the top 10 for CMS, ending up tied for ninth after shooting 156 (+12). CMS had last week off but is participating in two tournaments this week, the Cal Lu Invitational on March 14-15 at the Sunset Hills Country Club, and the UC Santa Cruz Invite on March 19-20.

Women’s Lacrosse
The Athenas went 1-1 last week in two home matches, an 18-6 win over Aurora (Ill.) on March 8 and a 9-6 loss to Montclair State (N.J.) on March 11. Attacker Kendall Greenberg (CMC ’18) scored a team-high three goals in the victory over Aurora. Then to start this week, CMS defeated Whitman 17-2 (March 14) on Zinda Field. CMS now sits at 5-2 overall and 3-1 in SCIAC, which puts CMS in a tie for second place. CMS hosts three more nonconference matches this week (March 17, 19 and 20).

Softball
In six games at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga., an invitational tournament that featured many of the top teams in Division III, CMS went 4-2 and each of its four wins came against top-25 programs. CMS defeated No. 24 Kean (N.J.) 2-1 on March 11; No. 8 Virginia Wesleyan 6-2 and 3-0 on March 12 and March 13; and No. 10 Berry (Ga.) 6-3 on March 13. Pitcher Anna Gurr (CMC ’18) won each of her three starts (all against top-25 teams) during the weekend. In games that she started, she pitched 22 innings, allowed just 14 hits, three runs, two of which were earned, and she struck out 19. She shut out Virginia Wesleyan (3-0) in the final game of the Leadoff Classic for CMS. The first-place Athenas are 14-5-1 on the season and have a 9-1 SCIAC record. Next up is a home doubleheader against Hamline (Minn.) (March 18) and then a pair of SCIAC games at Whittier (March 19).

Women’s Tennis
In its lone match of the week, the No. 5 Athenas defeated No. 7 Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) 6-3 on March 8 in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Division III quarterfinals. The Athenas earned the 6-3 victory as No. 1 singles player Caroline Ward (CMC ’16) clinched the team win with the 7-5, 6-4 victory. CMS is 7-1 overall and atop the SCIAC standings at 3-0. This week, CMS hosts three top-25 teams at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center: No. 4 Amherst (Mass.) (March 16), No. 25 Whitman (Wash.) (March 17) and No. 8 Bowdoin (Maine)(March 19).

Women’s Track & Field
On March 11, the Athenas competed at the Occidental Distance Carnival. Bridget Blum (CMC ’16) came away with one of the top races of the day for the Athenas. She finished in seventh place out of 119 competitors in the 5,000 meters. She broke 17 minutes and her time of 16:53.75 is a PR and ended up being the second-fastest time in CMS history. The Athenas are 2-0 so far this season in SCIAC competition. Next on the schedule is the Ross and Sharon Irwin Invitational at Point Loma Nazarene on March 19.

Women’s Water Polo
The Athenas had a difficult week as they went 0-4 with a home loss to La Verne (10-9) on March 9 and three losses at the Cal Baptist Lancer Invite (March 11-12). Attacker Roxy Kiessling (CMC ’18) scored eight of the team’s 18 goals during the week. Bucknell (Pa.) visits CMS on March 16 as CMS looks to improve on its 2-12 record.

====================== Winter – Men========================

Men’s Swimming & Diving
Upcoming for CMS are the NCAA Division III Championships, March 16-19 in Greensboro, N.C. The Stags qualified in four of the five relays (200 free, 400 free, 200 medley, 400 medley) and will also compete in the 800 free relay as an additional swim. In addition to competing in the relays, five of the six Stags who qualified are also competing in several individual events: junior Matthew Williams (CMC – 100 fly, 100 back, 200 back), senior Alex Poltash (CMC – 50 free, 100 free, 200 free), sophomore Noah Deer (CMC – 50 free, 100 free, 200 free), senior Matthew Valentine (HMC – 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 IM) and senior Zach Alleva (CMC – 100 breaststroke). Alleva earned a “B” cut time in the breaststroke but gets to compete at nationals because he is also competing in relays. An athlete who qualifies for nationals on a relay team gets to swim in any event at nationals that they swam a “B” cut time in during the course of the season. Senior Joseph Hinton (CMC) is heading to nationals as well as a relay team member. Live video is available for the NCAA Championships.

====================== Spring – Men========================

Baseball
Rain had an impact on last week for the Stags, who went 1-1 against Rutgers-Newark (N.J.) but also had a pair of games canceled because of the weather. CMS took the opening game of its doubleheader against Rutgers-Newark on March 12 with a 7-6 win. CMS notched the victory on a walk-off RBI by Chase Eller (CMC ’18) in the bottom of the ninth. CMS started the week with a 4-3 home loss to Ithaca. Four games are left on the schedule this week, including homes against Ithaca (N.Y.) (March 15) and Chapman (March 18) and a road doubleheader at Chapman (March 19). CMS is 4-13 overall and 2-7 in SCIAC which puts them in a tie for seventh place.

Men’s Golf
After a long layoff from competition, the Stags are back at it March 17-20 in Jekyll Island, Ga., at the Collegiate Invitational, a tournament that features the top Division III programs in the country.

Men’s Tennis
The Stags went 3-1 during the week with wins over No. 7 Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) (6-3) on March 9, No. 26 Texas-Tyler (7-2) on March 11, and No. 5 Trinity (Texas) (6-3) on March 12. The lone loss for CMS came in the finals of the Stag-Hen Invite on March 12 as No. 1 Emory (Ga.) topped CMS 7-2. CMS had not lost a regular-season match to a Division III opponent since March 24, 2012. Avi Vemuri (CMC ’19) stayed perfect in tournament play, winning at No. 6 singles in straight sets. Vemuri was one of two Stags to earn points against Emory, pulling out a dramatic match tie-break win after saving three consecutive match points on his serve at 1-6, 4-5, love-forty. CMS is now 9-1 on the season. Next on the schedule are home matches on March 17 against UConn and Whitman.

Men’s Track & Field
On March 11, the Stags competed at the Occidental Distance Carnival. Jesse Joseph (HMC ’17) won the 10,000 meters for the first time. He finished the event in 31:43.21. Next on the schedule is the Ross and Sharon Irwin Invitational at Point Loma Nazarene on March 19.

====================== Club Sports ========================

Men’s Lacrosse
Led by scorer Kaegan Ingrasci (Pitzer '17), the Claremont Cougars men’s lacrosse club resoundingly defeated the visiting Utah State Aggies 15-9 on Wednesday night. The game ball was awarded to Stuart Brown (CMC '19) for his overwhelming achievements on the field. The Cougars return from spring break to face Northern Arizona University on Friday, March 25, at noon on Pomona’s South Athletic Field.

Men’s Rugby
On March 4, the men's rugby team defeated Azusa Pacific 44-7 to claim the conference championship. The team next plays LMU on March 19 at Parents Field in the first round of the conference playoffs. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.