Henry Pick Earns SCIAC Athlete of the Year Honors for CMS Men's Cross Country

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Henry Pick was named the SCIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year in a vote of the league's coaches, the conference office announced today.

Pick earned the honor on the heels of his first-place finish at the 2021 SCIAC Championships, which were held on Saturday. Pick earned the title with a strong finishing kick to edge out Ethan Widlanksy of Pomona-Pitzer by just over five seconds, finishing in 24:24.7 to set a new course record at the Pomona-Pitzer Cross Country course.  

Pick was joined on the All-SCIAC first-team by teammates Stevie Steinberg, who finished third at SCIACs, and Kyril Van Schendel, who came in ninth, all three of whom repeated on the first team after finishing in the top 10 two years ago, when CMS earned the league title in a tiebreaker.

In fact, Pick also had a major role in that championship two years ago by coming in 10th place to earn the last spot on the All-SCIAC first-team. That finish allowed CMS to earn the tie with Pomona-Pitzer and win the title on the tiebreaker, which earned him the National Athlete of the Week honor from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. 

The Stags also had four athletes earn second-team All-SCIAC honors by finishing in the top 20. Miles Christensen, Will Kimball, Adam Wilkinson and Evan Hassman all earned league medals, with Christensen and Kimball repeat winners and Wilkinson and Hassman earning All-SCIAC for the first time in cross country (Hassman is a returning All-American in the steeplechase for the track and field team). 

CMS will be back in action next Saturday when it heads back to Pomona-Pitzer to compete in the NCAA West Regionals, where it will try to earn a team qualification to nationals by finishing in the top two for the 13th year in arow.