D'Anieri Finishes Third as CMS Men's Cross Country Comes in Sixth Place at NCAA Championships

Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Senior Thomas D'Anieri finished in third place as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team had its second-highest finish in program history by ending up sixth at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning at Tom Sawyer State Park.

The sixth-place finish from the Stags was behind only the fifth-place earned by the 2016 team as CMS took a big leap forward from its 27th place finish from last year.  

D'Anieri didn't compete last year while recovering from an injury and his presence made a big difference this fall. He was a top-100 finisher (93rd) as a sophomore, but recovered from his off year to have his best season yet, winning the SCIAC Championship and then coming in third at nationals with a time of 24:25.2, behind only Patrick Watson of Stevenson and Matthew Wilkinson of Carleton. 

D'Anieri becomes the eighth All-American in program history with his third-place performance and the first since his former teammates Kyle Lund and Joshua Sealand both earned the distinction in 2016. 

Sophomore Kyril Van Schendel was the second-place finisher for CMS in 24:58.8, coming in 42nd place overall. He was followed 10 seconds later by junior Stevie Steinberg, who crossed the line in 25:08.0 to finish in 51st place. 

First-year Henry Pick and sophomore Miles Christensen were both top-100 finishers for the Stags as well, coming in 89th and 90th place in 25;23.8 and 25:24.3, respectively, to close out the top five scorers for the team. Junior Will Kimball was in 108th place in 25:31.0 as the sixth-place CMS finisher. 

SCIAC rival Pomona-Pitzer won the team title with 164 points, led by a seventh-place finish from Ethan Widlansky. No. 1 ranked North Central (Ill.) was in second place with 182 points, edging out Williams with 183 points. WashU was fourth with 193 points and Johns Hopkins came in fifth with 208, with CMS in sixth with 222.

CMS will return everyone except D'Anieri from its top seven as it will look to improve on its sixth-place finish next season.