CMS Men's Golf Picked First in SCIAC Preseason Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team was picked to win the SCIAC in a vote of the conference's coaches, the league office announced today.

CMS earned all eight first-place votes to finish with 64 points, nine more than second-place Redlands. La Verne was in third place with 42 votes, and Cal Lutheran (38) and Chapman (31) were close behind in fourth and fifth. Occidental (25), Pomona-Pitzer (22) and Whittier (11) rounded out the poll. 

CMS ended last year with an eighth-place finish in the NCAA Division III Championships, highest of any SCIAC team, and the Stags come into the spring portion of the 2019-20 schedule ranked No. 4 in the nation, behind only Illinois Wesleyan, Emory and Huntingdon. 

The Stags were able to surge up the rankings after winning both of their fall events, taking first place at the Redlands Bulldog Invitational in September and the Embry-Riddle Co-Ed Invitational in October.  CMS opened the season by shooting -17 at Redlands, winning the tournament by 21 strokes, as five of its six competitors shot in the red, led by senior Austin Long (-4).

At the Embry-Riddle Invitational, senior Harrison Brenner came from six shots back on the final round to win the individual title, shooting a one-under 70 on the final round. As a team, CMS trailed by four strokes after the first round, but stormed back to win by 17 strokes. 

The Stags had their fall success without junior Mason Chiu, who was the SCIAC Athlete of the Year last season after capturing individual medalist honors at the conference championship, and won the Embry-Riddle Invite without returning All-American Ken Kong as well. CMS got strong contributions from its class of first-years, with Vikram Chatterjee, Edward Wu, Will Parker and Zach Torrey all contributing to the two first-place finishes. 

CMS will get its spring season started on Feb. 16-17, when it competes at the Coyote Classic, hosted by CSU San Bernardino.