CMS Men's Track and Field Qualifies for Five Events at NCAA Division III Championships

NCAA DIII Track & Field Championships Home Page

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's track and field will send eight of its athletes (four individual and one relay) to the NCAA Division III Championships in Geneva, Ohio on Thursday-Saturday, after the official invitations were extended by the NCAA this weekend.

Heading to nationals by ranking in the top 20 nationally in their events will be junior Maxwell Knowles (javelin), sophomore Alex McDonald (400-meter hurdles), sophomore Evan Hassman (steeplechase), and freshman Miles Christensen (5000). The 4x100 relay team of senior Matthew Guillory, sophomore Carter Henderson, freshman Jamie Cockburn and senior Corbin Bethurem also qualified by breaking the school record with a time of 41.18 at the Azusa Pacific Twilight Meet in May, which has them seeded 10th nationally. 

Knowles will head to the NCAA Championships with the ninth-best mark in the javelin, throwing 199 feet even (60.66 meters) at the SCIAC Championships to take first place. He led a 1-2-3 contingent of Stags on top of the SCIAC podium, as sophomore Jordan Venglass was second and junior Connor Schulz finished third. 

McDonald is seeded 11th in the 400-meter hurdles after finishing in 53.10 seconds to win SCIACs. McDonald dominated the finals at the conference championships, winning by almost a full second over John Pease of Redlands (54.01), while improving his prelim time by over a second and a half (54.72) and moving into at tie for second place in CMS history.

Christensen is the 12th seed in the 5000 after earning his best time of 14:24.67 at the Occidental Distance Carnival in March. Christensen later went on to win the SCIAC Championship in the 5000 as well, coming back on the final lap to defeat Pomona-Pitzer senior All-American Andy Rieschling by just over six seconds (14:42.67 to 14:48.76).

Hassman earned the 16th seed with a 9:08.60 in the steeplechase at the Occidental Invitational in May. He put up his PR at the time at the SCIAC Championships with a 9:12.08, nearly earning the win before defending champion Daniel Rosen of Pomona-Pitzer edged him out with a 9:10.50. His time at SCIACs would not have been good enough to get him into nationals, but he trimmed anover 3.48 seconds off at the Occidental Invitational to move into the top 20 (and into third place all-time at CMS). 

Knowles will compete in the javelin finals on Thursday at 3 p.m. local time (noon Pacific), which will be the same time that the 4x100 relay will compete in the prelims. McDonald will be in action in the 400 hurdles prelims at 4:40 p.m., while Hassman will be in the steeplechase prelims at 5:50 p.m. Christensen will run in the 5000 finals on Saturday at 3:25 p.m. in the final individual competition of the weekend. 

Should the Stags in the prelims advance, the steeplechase finals are at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, the 4x100 relay is at 12:15 p.m. and the 400 hurdles are at 2:25 p.m.

For a complete list of entries and schedules, head to the NCAA Division III Championships timing page.