Welcome to our new video feature, "The CMS-ence of..." in which we profile senior student-athletes with a short video question and answer session about their collegiate careers ... athletically and academically. With three colleges and two mascots, CMS is arguably the toughest athletic department in the country for branding, but to the degree that there's a singular brand identity around CMS, it is the consistently high achivement of our student-athletes both on and off their playing surfaces. Athletically, five different CMS athletic teams have won national titles since 2015, while the athletic department as a whole has won the SCIAC all-sports trophy 31 times, and finished as high as third nationally in the Learfield Director's Cup (2017-18). Academically, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Scripps represent three of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, and our student-athletes are constantly taking advantage of the many opportunities that their education provides for them.
This feature was created to give our seniors a chance to personally discuss some of the things they have accompished over their four years, while also showing their contributions to the CMS "brand" of high achievement (their "CMS-ence", if you will). The cumulative effect of these profiles will also hopefully give a wide cross-section of the various ways our student-athletes are leaving their mark in the Claremont community in their different fields of study, while excelling on both sides of the "student-athlete" hyphen.
Scroll down for some thumbnail capusles of our subjects so far, and click on their names to learn more about the CMS-ence of:
Class of 2020
Miles President (Men's Basketball, HMC - Computer Science): Senior Miles President was heavily recruited coming out of high school for his basketball skills. Four years later, as he enters his Senior Day 12 points shy of 1000 in his career, he is once again a highly recruited prospect, this time in the tech industry, as he'll graduate this spring with top honors from Harvey Mudd's computer science program.
Kendall Hollimon (Men's Swimming & Diving, CMC - Government and Philosophy): Winning a national title in diving would mean "everything" to senior Kendall Hollimon, who will be competing at home for the final time at Axelrood Pool this weekend when CMS hosts the 2020 SCIAC Diving Championships. But "everything" from only an athletic standpoint, as Hollimon's overall student-athlete experience as a government and philosophy major at Claremont McKenna is what's really meant everything to him.
Gloria Bates (Women's Basketball, CMC - Biochemistry): Over the last four years, Gloria Bates has learned a lot about chemistry, both as part of a close-knit CMS women’s basketball program that has won the SCIAC regular season league title in each of her last three years, and as a biochemistry major at Claremont McKenna, and she hopes to cap off her playing career with a return trip to the NCAA Tournament this winter.
Lauren Longo (Women's Basketball, Scripps - Biology): Lauren Longo has been a part of several hard-working teams during her four years as a biology major at Scripps College. She has carved out a role as a defensive stopper on the CMS women's basketball team, which has used its blue-collar team defense to win or share the last three SCIAC regular season titles. She also spent the past summer with a team of oncologists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who are hard at work researching stem cell transplants in pediatric cancer patients.
Ethan Lewis (Men's Water Polo, CMC - Computer Science at HMC): Ethan Lewis has helped rebuild the CMS men's water polo program back into SCIAC Championship contenders after an off-year as a sophomore when he had to play goalie. He has also helped rebuild company websites as a CMC student who took advantage of the 5c consortium to be a computer science major at Harvey Mudd.
Matthew May (Football, CMC - Government and Legal Studies): Politicians in Washington, D.C. often talk about the need to have a good "ground game" during election season. If that's the case, May might have a heck of a future in his chosen line of work after helping to pave the way for an impressive running game as an offensive lineman for the CMS football team.
Luke Scanlan (Men's Soccer, CMC - Biology): Luke Scanlan has been a part of a senior class that has led a resurgence for the CMS men's soccer program in the last two years, including back-to-back SCIAC regular season titles. A SCIAC All-Academic team selection as a biology major, Scanlan has been out of action since September with a season-ending injury, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing to leave his imprint on this year's team.
Kira Favakeh (Women's Soccer, HMC - Engineering): Kira Favakeh has been one of the team leaders for a women's soccer squad that stands 9-3-3 this year. She has also been a team leader for a group of Harvey Mudd engineering students working at the City of Hope Medical Center, assisting with advancing various medical technology for cancer research.
Sarah Tritschler (Volleyball, CMC - Psychology): Sarah Tritschler is in the middle of trying to win her second national championship with the CMS volleyball team, after being one of six Athenas on the court for match point for the 2017 title. When not playing volleyball, the SCIAC All-Academic team selection can often be found at the Umanath Memory & Aging Laboratory doing research as a psychology major, or working with the College Programming Board to promote inclusive events on campus.
Georgia Scherer (Cross Country, CMC - Biochemistry): Senior Georgia Scherer of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's cross country team has made two recent trips to San Diego in the span of two months, one to compete for the Athenas in the UCSD Triton Invitational in October, and the other to present her research at the American Chemical Society's national conference in August.
Connor Sinclair (Football, CMC - Economics and Film Studies): Connor Sinclair has been a regular member of the defensive line rotation for CMS football throughout his career, helping the Stags to a SCIAC title last year. Off the field, he has made the most of his liberal arts education at Claremont McKenna, holding down a dual major in economics and film studies.
Zack Rossman (Men's Water Polo, CMC - Computer Science at HMC): Rossman has earned Division III All-America honors the last two years, while academically he is enrolled in the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at CMC, while simultaneously pursuing a computer science major at Harvey Mudd, all while earning the top academic honor from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches for having a GPA of 3.7 or higher.
Gabby Clouse (Women's Soccer, CMC - Biology): Clouse has traveled to South America during her college career, not to play in international tournaments or watch World Cups, but to pursue her passion of studying the ethics of international healthcare as a human biology major at CMC, shadowing doctors at several medical facilities in Ecuador.
Lina Aluzri (Volleyball, CMC - Economics): As a back-row defensive specialist on the CMS volleyball team, Lina Aluzri is used to needing to react quickly in the middle of a fast-paced environment. Those same traits came in handy this summer when she served as an investment banking analyst for Piper Jaffray.
Class of 2019
Julian Gordy (Men's Tennis, CMC - Economics-Accounting): Gordy is a two-time captain and a two-time All-American for the No. 1 CMS men's tennis team. He has also carried a 3.8 GPA with a rigorous economics-accounting workload at Claremont McKenna, and after he ends his collegiate tennis career some time this month, he will begin his corporate finance career with FTI Consulting, where he interned last summer.
Morgan Blevins (Women's XC/Track and Field, HMC - Engineering): Blevins has put a lot of miles in training as a distance runner with the CMS women's cross country and track and field teams. But those miles pale in comparison to the miles put in by the astronauts she worked with this summer as an intern at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Kaitlyn Eng (Women's Water Polo, HMC - Engineering): Eng's collegiate career has included 47 victories with the Athenas, including an 18-7 record in SCIAC in the last two years. But her collegiate career has included significant victories outside the pool as well, including an engineering project that is currently being utilized on the International Space Station.
Corie Hack (Women's Lacrosse, CMC - Science Management): Senior Corie Hack has been a standout on the CMS women's lacrosse team, which has won 29 straight games against SCIAC opponents over the last three years. When not playing for the Athenas, Hack and teammate Kira Weiss have traveled to Uganda with FundAField to help organize that country's first-ever lacrosse tournament.
Mark Sui (Men's Basketball, CMC - Economics, master's in finance): The starting point guard for the men's basketball team as a senior, Sui will finish his basketball career on schedule in four years, while finishing his academic career ahead of schedule, leaving with both a bachelor's in economics and a master's in finance.
Jackson Crewe (Men's Swimming and Diving, HMC - Computer Science/Mathematics): A standout in the backstroke and the freestyle, Crewe represented CMS at the 2017 NCAA Division III Championships, and has also represented Intel and Microsoft as a software engineering intern during his college years.
Emma Stacy (Women's Swimming and Diving, Scripps - Chemistry): One of 11 Athenas to attend the 2018 NCAA Division III Championships, Stacy also traveled to Malaysia to present her paper on the environmental effects of renewable energy technology through the Keck Science Department.
Ryan Kusch (Men's Basketball, HMC - Computer Science): A member of two SCIAC champion men's basketball teams, Kusch has interned the last two summers at Google, while working on his senior Capstone Project at Harvey Mudd with Intuit.
Ellery Koelker-Wolfe (Women's Basketball, CMC - Biochemistry): A part of three regular season SCIAC championships, Koelker-Wolfe spent this summer conducting cancer research at the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, developing ways to help the human immune system fight cancer cells.
Torrey Hart (Women's Swimming and Diving, CMC - Media Studies/American Studies): A top-10 finisher in the 1650 (eighth) at the 2018 SCIAC Championships and a part of a SCIAC Championship team as a sophomore, Hart spent this summer working at Yahoo Sports in Los Angeles covering Major League Baseball, spending time in the clubhouses and press boxes at both Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium.
Matilda Msall (Women's Cross Country, Scripps - Politics): A member of four SCIAC Championship cross country teams, Msall spent this summer interning on Capitol Hill with Illinois congressman Mike Quigley and is involved with several extra-curruricular activities around campus, including serving as the interview editor for the Claremont Journal of Law and Public Policy.
Benjamin Iten (Men's Cross Country, HMC - Engineering): A member of the West Region co-champion men's cross country team, Iten interned in the sports division at the Intel Corporation in Portland, helping to design technology that will one day making the viewing experience for sports fans more immersive.
Jackson Tate (Football, CMC - Biophysics): A two-year captain on the SCIAC champion football team, Tate spent this past summer at a laboratory in Memphis performing mock surgeries for medical research.
Brenden Brown (Football, HMC - Engineering): Another memner of the SCIAC champion football team, his research on the tissue engineering of corneas at Harvey Mudd gave him the opportunity to present his work at the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society Conference, which was held in Davos, Switzerland last summer.
Malea Martin (Women's Cross Country, CMC - Literature and Government): A four-time SCIAC Champion and All-West Region runner, Martin is actively involved with several non-profit organizations on campus and off campus, including United Way, the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights and Amnesty International.
Aidan Johnson (Men's Soccer, CMC - Government): An All-West Region midfielder and a government major at Claremont McKenna, Johnson has interned with Oregon senator Jeff Merkley's office in the summer of 2016, the U.S. Senate in 2017 and with the U.S. House of Represntatives in 2018.
Sydney Talmi (Women's Soccer, CMC - Neuroscience): An All-SCIAC starting center back and a neuroscience major at Claremont McKenna, Talmi is working on her senior thesis quantifying axon termination in relevant areas of the rhesus monkey brain.