Christian Campbell competing in the 4x400 relay (photo by Daniel Addison)
Christian Campbell competing in the 4x400 relay (photo by Daniel Addison)

CMS Men's Track and Field Dominates First SCIAC Multi-Dual

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's track and field team began defense of its 2019 SCIAC title with a dominant performance at its first league event of the 2020 season, taking first place (or tying for first place) in 14 of the 19 events in a five-team multi-dual at Whittier, which also included Chapman, Occidental and Caltech on Saturday.

CMS dominated the throws at last year's SCIAC Championships and once again dominated all four events to start this league season as well. Senior Reese Peterson won three events, taking first in the shot put (46'4.25"), the discus (138'11") and the hammer (153'4"). Sophomore Tyson-Jay Saena was the runner-up in the shot put, junior Matthew Sill was the runner-up in the discus by just five inches (138'6") and in the hammer, while Saena was third in the hammer and first-year Truman Knowles was fourth. 

CMS also went 1-2-3-4 in the javelin, with senior Maxwell Knowles coming in first with a throw of 182 feet, six inches. He was followed by junior Jordan Venglass, junior Connor Schulz and junior Ross Rainaldi.

The middle distances also saw the Stags well-represented at the top of the standings, with CMS earning a 1-2-3 finish in the 800. Sophomore Keizo Morgan came in first in 1:57.06, edging out sophomore Miles Christensen in second in 1:57.22, while senior Wilson Ives came in third at 1:58.20. Ives, meanwhile, won the 1500 meters in 3:59.60, just coming in under the four-minute mark and finishing just ahead of teammate Stevie Steinberg, who was second in 4:00.30. 

Sophomore Kyril Van Schendel was victorious in the 5000 meters in 15:04.91, while the Stags had five of the top seven, including junior Gage Hornung in third, and first-year Declan O'Neill in fifth. The steeplechase was a 1-2-3 CMS finish, led by junior Evan Hassman, an All-American in the event a year ago, who finished in 9:35.89, followed by junior Will Kimball and sophomore Adam Wilkinson

The sprints saw first-year Christian Campbell won the 100-meter dash in 11.03 seconds, finishing .09 ahead of second place Derek Ohara of Chapman. Sophomore Jamie Cockburn took the 400 meters in 48.85, while also finishing a close second in the 200 meters in 22.00 seconds, just .17 behind Cooper Tirado of Whittier. 

Sophomore Alex McDonald was victorious in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.63, a comfortable win by almost 1.5 seconds, and then ran the first anchor of the 4x400 relay which finished first in 3:19.86, with Morgan, Campbell and Cockburn running the second, third and fourth legs. 

Senior Walker Quinn tied for first in the pole vault at 15 feet, five inches, while first-year Ross Hibbett tied for first in the high jump at five feet, 10.75 inches. 

CMS will be back in action next weekend for the Occidental Distance and Sprint Carnival on Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m.