CMS Men's Cross Country Finishes Seventh at Cougar Challenge

SAN MARCOS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team, running without the 10 runners scheduled to compete at the NCAA Pre-Nationals next weekend, earned a seventh-place finish at the Cougar Challenge, hosted by CSU San Marcos on Saturday.

Adam Sage was the top finisher for the Stags, coming in 44th place with a time of 25:42.6. Evan Hassman finished in 49th place in 25;48.7, while Zachary Traul just came in under 26 minutes (25:59.6) to come in third. Gage Hornung was the fourth CMS scorer in 59th place in 26:02.1, while Kai Gundlach was fifth in 26:27.0. 

CMS competed last week at the UC Riverside Invitational, and split their squad up for the follwing two weeks, with 10 runners going to Kentucky next weekend to run on the same course where the NCAA Championships will be held. Those runners were held out this weekend to avoid running three weekends in a row. 

Pomona-Pitzer edged Chico State for the team title 50 points to 52, while CSU San Marcos was third and Stanislaus State was fourth. 

CMS will be back in action as a full squad on Oct. 9 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.