CMS Women's Cross Country Moves up to Fourth in Latest National Rankings

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's cross country team moved up one spot into a tie for fourth place in the latest USTFCCCA Division III poll released today.  

CMS has been ranked No. 5 for the last several weeks but ticked up one spot to move into a tie with Johns Hopkins. The two teams are used to being in close proximity, after they finished within two points of each other for the national championship a year ago. The Blue Jays barely edged out the Athenas for the national title, while CMS took home the second-place trophy for the highest finish in program history.

SUNY Geneseo currently holds the top spot with 350 points, followed by Wartburg in second with 340, Chicago in third with 330, and CMS and Johns Hopkins deadlocked with 315 in a close vote. MIT is sixth, while WashU, Amherst, Wisconsin-La Crosse and Pomona-Pitzer round out the top 10.

The Athenas finished in second place at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational this weekend, but were easily the top Division III program at the meet, finishing behind only Division II Biola. CMS also took first place by a substantial margin out of 46 teams at the Paul Short Run on Sept. 30, and had a 1-2-3-4-5 finish at its season opener at the Redlands Invitational.

CMS will be back in action in two weeks when it competes at the SCIAC Championships, held at Prado Park, when the Athenas will be trying for their 12th straight conference title.