SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team opened the 2025 season with the best possible score (15 points) as it dominated the competition at the Coyote Challenge, hosted by CSU San Bernardino, on Saturday morning.
The Stags had the top five collegiate finishers, behind only unattached runner Noah Plaza, who graduated from Concordia Irvine last spring. Hayden Beauchemin broke 25 minutes (24:57.0) in his first race since 2023-24, after studying abroad last year, placing second overall and first among collegiate competitors. It was also his personal best time for an 8K race, and moves him into 26th all-time at CMS.
Beauchemin was followed by four more Stags in third through sixth, with Jerry Xu crossing the line in 25:04.3, Jacob Pippel earning a time of 25:10.9, Pierce Clark finishing less than a second behind Pippel with a 25:11.6 and Jonas Rickert capping off the perfect 15-point sweep with a 25:17.5.
Finn McClure of La Verne broke up the CMS dominance by coming in seventh, but Brennan Tobin was next in eighth place (25:24.1) and Arnav Shetty gave the Stags seven of the top 10 in 25:35.4. Hale Behan was 12th in 25:43.9, while Ethan Wood was 15th and Matthew Jabro 21st (20th among collegiate runners).
Pippel moved into 40th in CMS history with his time, while Rickert moved into 46th and Tobin debuted in the top 50 (No. 49) in his first race.
Charlie Routledge (24th), Jackson Giumarra (31st) and Ferguson Wheeler (36th) also had strong showings in their college debuts for CMS.
Redlands was second behind CMS with 81 points, while Riverside Community College was third, Concordia Irvine was fourth and La Verne came in fifth.
The Stags will be back in action in two weeks at the Division III Pre-Nationals in Spartanburg, S.C. on Sept. 20.
– Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics
