End of the Year Awards for CMS

CLAREMONT, Calif. – It has been another outstanding year for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics. On the largest scale, CMS broke into the top-10 in the Division III Learfield Directors' Cup. During the 2015-16 year, many of the CMS student athletes were honored for their athletic and academic achievements.

CMS 2015-16 Year in Review

At the annual SCIAC End of Year Banquet, CMS was awarded the Men's, Women's and Combined All-Sports Trophies. This is the sixth-consecutive year that CMS has earned all three All-Sports Trophies. CMS has come home with the women's trophy 21 times, the men's 39 times and the combined trophy 28 times, far out-numbering every other SCIAC program.

CMS Department Awards

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletic department honored the athletic and academic achievements of the student-athletes during the 2015-16 season in the annual department awards.

The Hank Krieger Award is given to a student-athlete that exhibits athletic excellence, academic excellence and leadership.

The Noelle and Veronique Boucquey Outstanding Scholar-Athlete Award is awarded to a Scripps College student for their athletic and academic excellence and leadership.

The Dickinson Award is presented to the one member of the CMC student body who above all others typifies those qualities of athletic participation which are beneficial to the student body in campus life as well as on the athletic fields. The exhibit these qualities: leadership, self-discipline, determination, and conscientiousness.

The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) sponsors a male and female Scholar Athlete Award from each member institution. It is presented to a graduating senior with an elite GPA and excellent athletic achievements.

CMSPY Awards

The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) organized and ran the second-annual CMSPY awards show which featured student-selected award-winners. The CMSPY winners were voted on and selected in late April and presented on May 5. 

Best Upset: On October 24th, the Stags Football team came back from a 13 point deficit with 1:23 left to beat Occidental 45-42. CMS led a 50 second, 4 play, 62-yd drive with a 26-yd touchdown pass from Trey Reynolds to Trey Smith. The Stags then took control of an onside kick with 28 seconds, and secured the victory with a 4-play, 53-yd drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Reynolds to Smith with 0:05 left on the clock.

Breakthrough athlete: Kyle Lund broke through this fall at the Stanford Invitational, finishing with the 5th fastest time in CMS history, placing 45th in a race filled with mostly DI and DII teams and second for CMS. After finishing in the top-7 on the team just once in his first two years, Kyle helped the team place seventh at nationals, its highest finish ever.

Comeback athlete: After missing his junior and part of sophomore seasons with a back injury, Jack Witte came back to lead the Stags baseball team in home runs, walks, on-base percentage, triples, and slugging; he has started almost every game at shortstop this season for a Stags team that is 9-19 in conference.

Best moment: Matt Williams won the 100 yard backstroke at the NCAA Division III Championships, the first National title for the Stags since 2005. His time of 47.57 also earned him a CMS varsity record.

Championship performance: Men's Water Polo finished the fall as undefeated SCIAC Champs and ended the season a 14-game win streak with a defeat by No. 2 team in the country (USC) at Division I National Championship.

Best record-breaking performance: Men's Tennis has 99 straight conference wins and over 10 years of being undefeated in SCIAC. They are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Freshman Athlete of the Year: Corie Hack continually displayed strong performances for the Athenas Lacrosse team. She led her team in goals with 35 on the season, including multiple game-winning goals. She has a true dedication to the sports as well as her team, who finished second in conference this season.

Sophomore Athlete of the Year: Kailee Severt was SCIAC Athlete of the Year for women's basketball; First Team All-West Region; and was a DIII All-America honorable mention. Kailee led the Athenas in scoring, shooting three point, and free throw percentage. The Athenas finished the season 23-6 and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Junior Athlete of the Year: Jai Dungca was First Team All-SCIAC, CMS Athlete of the Week, and led the team in minutes, assists, and steals per game. Jai was the starting point guard for the record-breaking Athenas team and at 4'11she is easily the fastest guard in the SCIAC.

Senior Athlete of the Year: Skyler Butts is currently ranked No. 1 in DII singles and doubles (with partner Daniel Morkovine) in the West Region. He and Daniel defended their DIII doubles title, and Skyler won his first D3 singles title at the 116th Ojai Valley Tournament. Skyler also finished 2nd in the singles national championship last year.

Team Athlete of the Year: In the spring of 2015 the Stags Tennis team won the National Championship. In the singles championship, 2015 grad senior Warren Wood defeated Skyler Butts and in the doubles championship, Wood and 2015 grad Joe Dorn defeated North Carolina Wesleyan. The Stags also defeated Middlebury for the first team championship since 1981.

Coach Athlete of the Year: Coach Greg Lonzo led Stags to SCIAC Championships and NCAA Division I Championships and was the SCIAC Coach of the Year; in his 10th season as coach for Stags and Athenas he leads both against Division I competition. The Athenas took 5th place at the SCIAC Championships

Female Athlete of the Year: Caroline Ward is a 4-time All-American. She is currently ranked No. 4 in singles and No. 1 with partner Katie Kuosman in doubles in the West Region.  In October, she was a Fall Regional Champion in doubles and made it to the semifinals in singles. Most recently Caroline made it to the Ojai Valley quarterfinals in both singles and in doubles with partner Kyla Scott.

Male Athlete of the Year: Tanner Cullen is a three-time All-American. He was the SCIAC and Division III Player of the Year, and led the Stags to an undefeated SCIAC Championship and strong performance at the NCAAs.

Behind the Scenes: Behind the Scenes MVP goes to a staff member whose impact on CMS often goes unnoticed or underappreciated.

This year, the winner of the award has worked endlessly to improve the performance of our high-achieving athletes both in and out of season. Although they are not here to accept this award tonight, we are very grateful for our strength coach Andrew Jones, who takes home the Behind the Scenes MVP award.

Spirit Award: The Spirit Award is a new award that goes to a player who represents the heart and soul of a team. Their attitude, enthusiasm, and pure love for the game and their teammates is something that will be missed.

On the football team, Ryan Farney and Tyler Stanek stood out as key contributors on the field. Being the stud athletes that they are, Farney and Stanek openly volunteered to join the Stags Basketball team when they were down players due to injury in the beginning of the season. Farney and Stanek never saw court time in game, but their willingness to compete in practice and suit up every game to be the loudest voices on the bench were a huge asset. As two athletes with extraordinary team spirit, this year we present the Spirit Award to Ryan Farney and Tyler Stanek.

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