Sarath Kakani Earns SCIAC Field Athlete of the Week Honor

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Sarath Kakani captured the SCIAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week honor for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's track and field team for events through Sunday, March 6, the league office announced today.

Kakani earned the honor after breaking 50 feet in the shot put at the first SCIAC Multi-Dual of the 2022 season for the Stags, which was hosted by La Verne. He led a 1-2-3 finish for CMS in the event, throwing 50 feet, 5 1/2 inches to place first, while Tyson-Jay Saena and Jason Bowman were second and third. 

The throw put him in rare company at CMS, as he is only the ninth student-athlete in program history to break 50 feet, and the first to do it since 2011, when Taylor Berliant (55-11) and Grant Heffernan (54-11 1/4) had the top two marks in the Stag record books. His 50'5.5" throw now ranks him eighth all-time. 

Kakani joins Massimo Bertini and Maxwell Knowles among CMS award winners so far this year, after Bertini was the Track Athlete of the Week following his performance at the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers Meet, when he won both the 200 and the 400, and anchored the winning 4x400 relay. Knowles took the Field Athlete of the Week last week after a first-place finish in the javelin at the Rossi Relays. 

CMS returns to action this weekend for the Occidental Sprint and Distance Carnival, while Bertini and three teammates (Miles Christensen, Kai Dettman, Henry Pick) will compete at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.