Kyril Van Schendel Becomes Second Stag to Win SCIAC Men's XC Athlete of the Week

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Sophomore Kyril Van Schendel became the second member of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team in as many weeks to win the SCIAC Athlete of the Week honor, the league office announced today.

Van Schendel earned this week's honor after an impressive performance at the UC Riverside Invitational, where he finished 10th overall out of 203 runners, most of which came from Division I and Division II programs. In addition, Van Schendel's final time of 24:36.8 ranks him fourth in program history, trailing only David Juiliano at the 2001 NCAA Championships, Zorg Loustalet at the 2014 Stanford Invitational and Kyle Lund at the 2016 NCAA Championships. 

Last week, junior Stevie Steinberg was named the SCIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week after finishing fifth at the Biola Invitational to lead the way for the Stags. Van Schendel was right behind in seventh place at that event, and became the top CMS finisher this week at Riverside. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it travels to CSU San Bernardino to participate in the Coyote Challenge, beginning at 8 a.m.