Jacque Desmond Breaks own Pole Vault Record, Athenas Go 4-0 in Final SCIAC Multi-Dual

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's track and field team competed against four other SCIAC institutions in its final regular season multi-dual of the season and swept all four, finishing the year with a 7-1 dual record.

The Athenas came in with a 3-1 record after their first two multi-duals, and swept Pomona-Pitzer, Chapman, Cal Lutheran and host Occidental on Saturday to finish 7-1. The closest dual score of the four came against Occidental, but CMS still held a comfortable 93-61 final margin. The other finals were 123-31 over Cal Lutheran, 131-15 over Chapman and 116-36 over Pomona-Pitzer. 

Senior Jacque Desmond broke her own school record in the pole vault with a top clearance of 12 feet, 7.5 inches (3.85 meters), passing her previous best of 12-6 set in 2017. CMS also went 1-2-3 in the long jump, led by a 17 feet, 11.75 inches from junior Sabrine Griffith, followed by sophomore Grace Pratt and senior Dani Chami, while junior Amanda Mell (36'9.5") and sophomore Carolyn Weisman (36'7.5") were 2-3 in the triple jump. 

The distance events also saw the Athenas in dominant form, winning all four events of 800 meters or more. Sophomore Abigale Johnson swept the 800 and the 1500 to lead the way for the Athenas with two individual wins, earning a 2:22.15 in the 800 (a margin of almost two full seconds) and a 4:44.30 in the 1500 (a margin of over five seconds). 

Senior Malea Martin took first in the 5000 with an 18:51.47, winning by just a half-second over Lila Cardillo of Pomona-Pitzer (18:51.96), and the Athenas went 1-4 in the steeplechase with freshmen Riley Harmon (11:22.32) and Sophie Gitlin (11:23.46) both setting personal bests to move into eighth and ninth on the CMS all-time list, respectively. 

The Athenas also earned first place in the 4x100 relay, with Griffith, sophomore Aubrey Egerter, Mell and Pratt finishing in 48.46. Pratt led the way in the sprints for CMS with a third-place finish in the 100 (12.75 seconds, one hundredth of a second ahead of Griffith in fourth) and a second-place finish in the 200 (25.77), while Griffith was second in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.84 seconds. 

In the throws, junior Amanda Gallop took first in the discus with a top throw of 108'9", as well as third in the shot put at 36'11". Senior Mikaela Gallardo was second in the javelin (105 feet, four inches) and third in the hammer throw (141 feet).

CMS will be back in action next week in its final tune-ups before SCIAC Championships with some of the team attending the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific and others attending the Long Beach State Invitational.