CMS Men's Cross Country Vaults to No. 6 in Latest National Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After a strong start to its 2019 season, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country moved up from No. 18 all the way to No. 6 in the latest NCAA Division III poll, which was released today by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Stags began the season by finishing a close third at the Biola Invitational, behind only CSU San Marcos and host Biola. CMS then finished fifth out of 22 teams at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, in a field that was made up of almost entirely of Division I and Division II programs. With their strong effort, they moved past Pomona-Pitzer into first place in the West Region poll, which was released yesterday, and then moved up 12 positions in the national poll released this afternoon. 

CMS has also had the first two SCIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week Award winners. Junior Stevie Steinberg earned it after a fifth-place finish at the Biola Invitational, while sophomore Kyril Van Schendel made it two-for-two for the Stags by coming in 10th out of 203 at the UC Riverside Invitational, while also moving into fourth place all-time at CMS in the 8K with a final time of 24:36.8.

Senior Thomas D'Anieri, who is back on the team this year after studying abroad last fall, also moved up to No. 11 in CMS history on Saturday, while Steinberg moved up to No. 14. Sophomore Miles Christensen is also in the top 20 in program history (16th) for his time at UC Riverside last year.

The Stags will be back in action this weekend when they travel to the Coyote Challenge, hosted by CSU San Bernardino, beginning at 8:45 p.m.