Stags Ranked No. 10 in USTFCCCA Preseason Men's Cross Country Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team was ranked No. 10 in the preseason USTFCCCA Division III national poll, the organization announced this week.

The Stags finished sixth at the NCAA Division III Championships in 2019, the last time they were in action. CMS slipped back slightly from that No. 6 spot in the 2021 preseason poll, due largely to not competing in the last academic year, but the Stags enter the new season optimistic that they could have one of their top seasons in program history.

CMS returns six of its top seven runners from 2019 as it gets ready for the new campaign. The one loss was a big one as Thomas D'Anieri finished his career as the SCIAC Champion and the No. 3 finisher at the NCAA Championships, but Stevie Steinberg and Will Kimball were scheduled to graduate in 2021, and took leaves of absence during the COVID-19 pandemic and are back to try to make one more run at a high finish at the NCAA Championships.

Steinberg and Kimball join seniors Kyril Van Schendel and Miles Christensen as the core group of runners for the Stags who were all building towards a big 2020 season before it was taken away. Henry Pick and Daniel Krasemann also had strong rookie seasons in 2019 to crack the CMS top seven, and they return this fall as well to give CMS a top six as strong as any program in the country as it opens its season next week at the Mark Covert Classic, hosted by CSU Fullerton on Sept. 4. 

Wartburg was picked to finish first after winning the 2021 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships behind the strong showing of its distance runners. Williams, Pomona-Pitzer, John Carroll and WashU round out the top five. 

To view the full USTFCCCA national poll, head to the following link: 

USTFCCCA Preseason Top 25 Poll