CMS Men's Track and Field Dominates Throws to Take Lead after First Day of SCIAC Championships

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's track and field team finished 1-2-3 in the javelin and 1-2 in the hammer throw, with Maxwell Knowles and Matthew Sill earning individual titles, as the Stags took the lead after the first day of competition on Saturday at the Burns Track Complex.

CMS has 76 points after the first day, with Pomona-Pitzer in second with 67. The Sagehens, ranked No. 2 nationally, actually closed a much larger CMS lead in the final event of the day by taking six of the top seven spaces in the 10000 meters. It is then a big dropoff to third place, where Redlands stands with 20 points. 

Knowles won the javelin with a throw of an even 199 feet, which is 14 feet further than his previous personal best set earlier this season, moving him into fourth in CMS history. He was followed by sophomore Jordan Venglass in second at 176 feet, four inches, and sophomore Connor Schulz in third at 173 feet, seven inches. Sophomore Ross Rainaldi also added three more points to the CMS total in the javelin with a sixth-place finish. 

In the hammer throw, Sill and junior Reese Peterson had a very close 1-2 finish a foot apart, with Sill winning at 163 feet, five inches and Peterson coming in second at 162 feet, five inches. The gap between second and third was much larger, as Peterson was nine feet ahead of Jesse Nikora of Occidental in third place at 153 feet, two inches. 

In other events that had their finals on Saturday, senior Eric Myers earned a second-place finish in the long jump with a top effort of 22 feet, seven inches, just three inches behind winner MJ Wheeler of Redlands. Junior Tse Yang Lim was in sixth at 21 feet, nine inches.

Sophomore Evan Hassman had a great effort in the steeplechase to nearly win the title before he was caught near the end by defending champion Daniel Rosen of Pomona-Pitzer. Hassman's time of 9:12.08 shattered his personal best and moves him into fifth all-time in school history.

Sophomore Will Kimball came in fourth in the steeplechase with a 9:25.32, while freshman Adam Wilkinson and sophomore Arjun Natarajan also scored by finishing in seventh and eighth, respectively. Freshman Thomas Fleming came in fifth in the 10000 with a 31:19.83, which places him ninth on the CMS all-time list. 

In the prelims, senior Corbin Bethurem won his heats in both the 100 and the 200 to advance to the finals, placing third in the 100 at 10.80, a personal best that moves him into seventh in CMS history, and second in the 200, tying his personal best of 21.69. Freshman Jamie Cockburn also won his heats in the 200 and 400, finishing with a 22.04 in the 200 and the top time in the 400 (48.75), which places him tenth all time at CMS. Sophomore Alex McDonald had the top time in prelims in the 400-meter hurdles with a 54.42 and will be one of the favorites in the finals tomorrow. 

Senior Matthew Guillory also earned his way into the finals in the 100 with a 10.91, which placed seventh. Three Stags advanced to the finals in the 800, with sophomore Daniel Sealand placing sixth (1:55.69), freshman Keizo Morgan was seventh (1:55.85) and junior Max Denning was eighth (1:57.55). In the 1500, senior Ben Iten (4:06.34) and junior Wilson Ives (4:08.50) both advanced through to Sunday's finals as well. 

The second day of the SCIAC Track and Field Championships will get underway tomorrow at 2 p.m. with field events, including the pole vault, triple jump and discus, while the track events will get started at 3:35 p.m. with the 4x100 relay. 


Sunday, April 28 Schedule - Track
3:35 p.m. (4x100 - finals)
Matthew Guillory-Carter Henderson-Jamie Cockburn-Corbin Bethurem

3:50 p.m. (1500 - finals)
Wilson Ives, Ben Iten

4:30 p.m. (400 finals)
Jamie Cockburn

4:45 p.m. (100 finals)
Matthew Guillory, Corbin Bethurem

5:00 p.m. (800 finals)
Keizo Morgan, Daniel Sealand, Max Denning

5:20 p.m. (400h finals)
Alex McDonald

5:35 p.m. (200 finals)
Corbin Bethurem, Jamie Cockburn

5:40 p.m. (5000 finals)
Garrick Jensen, Will Kimball, Matt Psaltakis, Stevie Steinberg, Ben Iten, Kyril Van Schendel, Wilson Ives, Miles Christensen, Luke Ostrander, Evan Hassman, Adam Wilkinson

6:30 p.m. (4x400 relay finals)
Alex McDonald-Daniel Addison-Keizo Morgan-Jamie Cockburn


Sunday, April 28 - Field
2 p.m. (Pole Vault - finals)
Walker Quinn, Alex Cha, Lincoln Bernard, Garegin Soghomonyan

2 p.m. (Triple Jump - finals)
Flight 2: Tse Yang Lim

2 p.m. (Discus - finals) - lower field
Flight 1: Andrew Maltz, Maxwell Knowles
Flight 2: Matthew Sill, Reese Peterson

4:30 p.m. (Shot Put - finals)
Flight 1: Andrew Maltz, Maxwell Knowles
Flight 2: Reese Peterson, Michael Sill

4:30 p.m. (High Jump - finals) 
Ross Rainaldi, Eric Myers