Christensen Wins SCIAC Newcomer of the Year, 17 Stags Earn All-SCIAC Honors

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Freshman Miles Christensen earned the SCIAC Men's Track and Field Newcomer of the Year Award, 17 Stags earned all-SCIAC honors for top-three finishes, and Head Coach Glenn Stewart and his staff (assistants Emily Ramey, Caleb McCurry, John Goldhammer and Bob Ramsey) earned the Coaching Staff of the Year Award, the league announced today.

Christensen earned the honor after an impressive freshman season as a distance runner on both the cross country and track and field teams. He ended up winning the 5000-meter title at the SCIAC Track and Field Championships, using an impressive finishing kick to go from 10 strides back with a half-lap to go into a win of over six seconds. 

Stewart and his staff were chosen as the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year after leading CMS to the league title as underdogs. The Stags were picked fourth in the SCIAC preseason poll, and entered the championships well behind No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 17 Redlands in the national polls. However, CMS dominated the throwing events and ended up winning the SCIAC title by a comfortable 36-point margin. 

Joining Christensen as individual champions at the SCIAC Championships were Matthew Sill (discus, hammer), Reese Peterson (shot put) and Maxwell Knowles (javelin) in the throws, Walker Quinn in the pole vault, Alex McDonald in the 400-meter hurdles, and the 4x400 relay team of McDonald, Daniel Addison, Keizo Morgan, and Jamie Cockburn. 

Also earning All-SCIAC distinction for the Stags were Corbin Bethurem in the 200 meters (third place), Wilson Ives in the 1500 (third place), Evan Hassman in the steeplechase (second place), Garegin Soghomonyan in the pole vault (third place), Eric Myers in the long jump (second place), Tse Yang Lim in the triple jump (third place), Jordan Venglass in the javelin (second place) and Connor Schulz in the javelin (third place). Peterson ended up with All-SCIAC honors in three events by also taking second place behind Sill in the hammer and discus, in addition to placing first in the shot put. 

CMS will host the Claremont Multi-Duals on Thursday and Friday, and several athletes will head to the Occidental Invitational on Saturday as they try to earn NCAA qualifying marks for the national championships later this month.