CMS Men's Track and Field Opens Spring Season with Five Wins at OIDFE Challenge

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's track and field team opened its 2020 season by hosting the OIDFE Challenge on Saturday at the Burns Track and Field Complex, and the Stags came away with four individual wins and one relay win to start its spring campaign.

The tri-meet with Whittier and La Verne was set up with an indoor track and field format, with 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles events in place of the 100-meter and 110-meter outdoor distances, while the throwing events consisted of only the shot put and weight throw.

Senior Walker Quinn, the defending SCIAC Champion in the pole vault, started off his final season with a first-place finish, clearing 15 feet, while sophomore teammate Garegin Soghomonyan was second with a top vault of 13'11.25" on the afternoon.

Junior Matthew Sill was the top collegiate finisher in the weight throw, with a top distance of 46'3.25", although he was just edged out by CMS distance coach John Goldhammer, who earned a throw of 63'11.75" to come in first among all competitors. Sill was also third in the shot put at 42'4", while sophomore Tyson-Jay Saena came in second at 43'3". 

First-year Stags made an immediate impact as well, as Christian Campbell won a close race in the 60 meters in 7.07, edging Gabriel Pridgen-Daniels of Whittier in 7.11, while CMS first-year Nick Ong made it a close 1-2-3 finish by crossing in 7.12 to come in third. First-year Ross Hibbett won the high jump by clearing 5'10.75" and was second in the long jump at 19'1.25" while fellow first-year Jonty Solomon was third at 19-feet even. 

Sophomore Jamie Cockburn came in second in the 200 meters at 22.44, while Ong and first-year Quincey Williams also came in under 23 seconds in 22.96 and 22.99, respectively. Cockburn then capped off the meet by anchoring the 4x400 relay to a win in 3:26.08, along with junior Alex McDonald, junior Daniel Addison and sophomore Keizo Morgan after the quartet ended last year by winning that event at the SCIAC Championships. 

CMS will return to action next weekend for its annual alumni neet, and will return to intercollegiate competition on Feb. 15 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational. The Stags will then be back at the Burns Track and Field Complex to host the annual Rossi Relays, beginning at 10:30 a.m.