Both Cross Country Teams Ranked Highly In Preseason

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) cross country teams are both ranked highly in the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason rankings which were recently released. The Stags are ranked 14th nationally and the Athenas are ranked 17th. This is the best combined ranking for the two teams to begin a season. The men, the defending West Region champions, are ranked first in the region and the women, who finished third in the region last year, are ranked second. CMS is one of only 16 teams nationally that have both their men and women ranked and one of only eight with both teams ranked in the top 20.

The Stags return five runners from their region-winning team: Kris Brown (SR, Seattle, WA), Georgi Dinolov (SR, Santa Cruz), Brian Kopczynski (SR, Coto de Caza), Kramer Straube (SR, Menlo Park) and Brian Sutter (SO, Monroe, WA). All five earned All-SCIAC honors last year and Straube, Kopczynski, Sutter and Dinolov also earned All-Region honors. In addition to winning the region, CMS also won the SCIAC and went on to place 15^th at the NCAA Championships.

The Athenas return six runners from last year’s regional squad: Kate Crawford (SO, Seattle, WA), Julia Rigby (JR, Santa Ana), Ashley Scott (SR, Battle Creek, MI), Jennifer Tavé (JR, St. Germain, France), Laura Wyatt (SO, La Jolla) and Aubrey Zimmerling (SO, Lakewood, CO). Tavé, Rigby and Scott earned All-SCIAC honors with Tavé and Rigby also earning All-Region honors. Tavé was runner-up at both the SCIAC and Regional meets and earned All-American honors with her 27^th place finish at the NCAA Championships. The Athenas tied for second in the SCIAC, but were the top finishing SCIAC team at the regional. They finished 22^nd at the NCAA Championships, second of three West Region teams.

CMS opens their season with a dual meet against Westmont College along the beach in Santa Barbara on September 4.

The complete list of the national and regional rankings can be found at the bottom of the following page:

http://www.ustfccca.org/division-iii