CMS Athletes Score Wins
Over Homecoming Weekend

CMS athletes stacked up the wins on Saturday, Nov. 14 in various arenas, including the Stags' Homecoming football victory against rival Pomona-Pitzer. The final 28-21 score on Zinda Field put the telltale peace pipea symbolic trophy of traditionback in the hands of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps teammates.
Just recently in the season, players D.J. Lillard, Brock Olson, and Patrick Atwater, all seniors, were voted to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team. All three were named to the First Team in the College Division of District VIII, automatically qualifying them for the Academic All-American ballot. Lillard and Olson also were Academic All-District in 2008. Lillard was one of two running backs, Atwater one of three linebackers, and Olson one of four defensive backs on the All-District team.
The men's and women's CMS soccer teams also served up wins in first-round NCAA playoff action on Saturday. For the first time in school history, the Athenas hosted the NCAA's and beat UC Santa Cruz (2-1) to advance to Sunday's second-round game against Hardin-Simmons University, losing 3-1. The Stags also won their first-round on Saturday at Santa Cruz, 2-1, then lost in second-round play against Whitworth University on Sunday, 2-1.
On the heels of the teams' successes was news that senior Laura Hagen was honored by the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) as Player of the Year, while a number of Athenas and several Stags made SCIAC's selections for their 2009 Soccer All-Conference Teams. First-team for women included CMS players Camila Friedman-Gerlicz '10, Stefanie Chan '11, and Nicole Sady-Kennedy '10; Second-team included Courtney Funk '10, Kirsten McAfee '11, Giselle Galanto '10, and Julia Nishioka '12. Men's First-team SCIAC included senior Ryan Fahey, senior Tomislav Zbozinek, junior Michael Ngyentat, and freshman Harrison Doyle; Second-team included freshman David Taylor '13.
In other CMS victories, the men's and women's cross country teams are both headed to the NCAA Division III Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, after competing in Saturday's West Region Meet. The Stags won the race and earned an automatic bid to Nationals while the Athenas finished third and earned an at-large bid. The meet is being hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College at Highland Park Golf Course in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, Nov. 21.
All-Region honors for the men included Kramer Straube (HMC JR) 4th, Brian Kopczynski (CMC JR) 6th, Florian Scheulen (HMC SR) 9th, Brian Sutter (CMC FR) 14th, Georgi Dinolov (HMC JR) 22nd and Matt Kurtis (HMC SR) 27th. All-Region honors for the women included Jennifer Tav? (SCR SO) 2nd, Julia Rigby (SCR SO) 11th and Breanna Deutsch (SCR SO) 31st.
More recent wins for CMS came from the men's water polo team on Saturday, after upsetting the top-ranked Whittier College Poets to reach the championship game. After a tumultuous season riddled with highs and lows, the Stags came into the annual SCIAC Championship tournament ranked fifth out of eighth, their worst seeding since Coach Greg Lonzo began his tenure here at CMS. The Road to the Championship pitted CMS against three teams that had beaten them in the regular season. Read more.
The Stags finished tied for third in the SCIAC standings, with their second- place finish in the tournament.