Stags Track & Field Stays Undefeated, Athenas Finish 1-2

Los Angeles, CA -- The CMS Track & Field team had a productive showing at the SCIAC quad track meet on Saturday, April 17. The men defeated Cal Lutheran, Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer by large margins (116-46 CLU, 117-46 OXY, 136-27 P-P). The Athenas had a 115-44 win over Pomona-Pitzer, but narrowly lost to Occidental and Cal Lutheran (77-85 CLU, 73.3-89.7 OXY).

Similar to last week’s meet, CMS set 32 personal bests in Eagle Rock. 

Four athletes had PR’s in the 400: Mike Carroll (SO, Petaluma) with a 49.55, Jon Hubbard (SR, Pasadena) with a 50.14, Ari Davis (FR, Boulder, CO) with a 50.67, and Lily Brown (JR, Newton, MA) with a 59.53.  Four athletes also set personal bests in the 800: Jeff Vignos (FR, Orinda) with a 1:55.94, Zach Doran (FR, Albuquerque, NM) with a 1:57.41, Shane Kunselman (FR, Ann Arbor, MI), who cracked two minutes for the first time with 1:58.24 and Scott Ogilvie (SO, Sleepy Hollow, IL) with a 2:05.37.

Tim Baffi (FR, Moraga) ran a 4:06.79 in the 1500M, which dropped his PR by .8 seconds.  Courtney Funk also ran a strong 1500M with a 5:03.94. Under less than ideal conditions, Russell Page (FR, Albuquerque, NM) and Brian Conroy (FR, Sierra Madre) ran their fastest 5k’s ever at 16:15.65 and 16:54.03 respectively. 

Rebecca Young (SO, Dulles, VA) ran a nice 16.30 100 hurdle race. Bennett Naden (FR, Middleton, MI) won the steeplechase by running a 9:45.44, which broke his personal best by 20 seconds. 

Three PR’s were broken in the 4x100 relays. The men ran 42.67 and 44.16, while the women reached 49.71.  Jeff Macdonald’s (FR, Arcadia) 48.1 anchor split in the 4x400 was a personal best. 

In the field events, Dave Abernethy (SR, Fullerton) high-jumped 6-0¾.  In the pole vault Masanori Honda (SR, Hanover, NH) passed the 12-foot barrier and Lauren Yeske (SO, Oak Park, IL) became #3 All-time CMS vaulter with her 11’ clearance. Bonny Guang (SO, Newton, MA) reached 90-2 in the discus, a 3-foot improvement. In the long jump, Ryan Pittman (SR, Ashland, OR) added 4 inches to his personal best by jumping 21-9, Jeremy Cheung (SO, Hong Kong, China) jumped into the 18-foot area with his 18- 3½ jump and Carmen Lundell (FR, Wayzata, MN) reached 16-8½.

In the throwing events, Chris Gage (FR, Olympia, WA) pushed the shot 38-11½ while Grant Heffernan (JR, Newport Beach) spun the discus 162’, which was a 1-1 PR.  Noah Franz (SR, La Habra Heights) chucked the spear 125’ while Catye Cantrell (SO, The Woodlands, TX) added 4’ to her throw from last week to reached 107’.

Taylor Berliant (JR, Sudbury, MA [pictured]) had a fantastic showing in the hammer with a throw of 200-2, which was the second 200 foot hammer thrower in CMS history and  placed him 13th all-time amongst Division III throwers.  He also placed second in the shot with a good 51-5 throw.   

Besides the 32 personal bests, some athletes were able to score huge points for CMS.

Guang finished the meet with a second place finishes versus Occidental in the shot, discus, and hammer. She threw PR’s in the last 2 events. Laura Wyatt (FR, La Jolla) was close to breaking PR’s in the 1500M and 800M. Heffernan placed third in both the shot put and hammer while winning his specialty, the discus, with a PR and a strong NCAA Qualifying mark.  His throw of 162-0 was a meet record vs Cal Lu and CMS' #3 all-time best performance. Reny Colton (SO, Glendale, CA [pictured]) won both the long jump and triple jump, placed second in the high jump and placed  third in the shot vs Oxy.  She also ran the 4x100M lead-off leg, the 100 hurdles and 200 meters to try to help the team. In the end, she scored 53½ points on the day. 

Lillian Brown (JR, Newton, MA) placed third in the discus versus Occidental, set a PR in the open 400 meters with a time of 59.53 and ran the fastest 4x400 leg.  Pittman won the high jump and long jump as well as scoring nine points in the javelin.  His long jump was the third furthest in the SCIAC and a personal best by 4 inches. He was the leading scorer for the Stags with 39 points.  Ryan Weaver (JR, Monument, CO) set his fourth PR this year in the 400IH and ran under 56 seconds for the first time with a time of 55.81.  He also had a very strong 4x400 leg of 51.3

The Stags finished their dual meet season undefeated with a perfect 7-0 record. Although CMS competed well on Saturday, Coach Goldhammer knows how put their accomplishments into perspective.