Kruger, Prasanna, Selva Win Titles, Stags Open Big Lead on First Day of SCIACs

CLAREMONT, Calif. - George Kruger took first place in the javelin, Kavin Prasanna won the hammer throw, and Kumi Selva earned first in the long jump as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's track and field team earned 78 points on the first day of the SCIAC Championships on Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer's Strehle Track.

Joshua Martinez also broke a 33-year old CMS record in the 110-meter hurdles during prelims, as the Stags opened up a 29-point lead on second-place Chapman (49 points) and a 42-point lead on host Pomona-Pitzer (36 points). 

Prasanna earned first place in the hammer throw with a distance of 169 feet, nine inches with teammate Jason Bowman finishing second with a throw of 164 feet, 11 inches. Logan O'Keefe added a fourth-place finish as well.

George Kruger earned first in the javelin with a throw of 187 feet, 10 inches, moving him into eighth in CMS history. Kumi Selva took first in the long jump with a top distance of 6.89 meters (22'7.25"), just edging out Isaac Robin of Chapman by 3/4 of an inch for the top spot on the podium. 

In other events that had finals on Saturday, Hayden Beauchemin earned second place in the steeplechase to earn All-SCIAC honors with a time of 9:03.00, just .07 behind his own program record. Oliver Pick came in fifth and Agustin Gomez De la Vega was sixth. Nick Taubenheim finished in sixth place in the 10000 meters with a 31:04.77. 

John Horan earned All-SCIAC honors with a third-place finish in the pole vault, clearing 4.25 meters (13'11.25"), while Flynn Meier came in fifth.  

In prelims, Martinez set a new CMS record in the 110-meter hurdles with a 14.50, passing the old mark of 14.59 which had stood for 33 years since it was set by William Fulton in 1991. Martinez broke that mark after he came within one one-hundredth of a second last year at SCIACs with a 14.60. Evan Siegel and Isaiah Jeter also qualified for the finals.

Colin Scanlon finished second in the prelims in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.69, while Miles Demarest also earned one of the eight spots in tomorrow's finals. 

Ellis DelVecchio had the top time in the 800 meters in prelims with a 1:54.95, while Nick Teresi qualified in the 400 meters with a time of 50.54. CMS had three of the 12 qualifiers in the 1500, with Mason Ratkovich recording the second-best time with a 4:01.25, and Daniel Voyles and Adam Cohan also earning their way into tomorrow's finals. 

The second day of the SCIAC Track and Field Championships gets underway tomorrow with field events at 2 p.m. and track events at 3:30 p.m.