CMS cross country teams earn national ranking

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 released on August 24. 

The men, the defending West Region champions, are ranked first and the women, who finished third in the region last year, are ranked second.  The USTFCCCA preseason national rankings will be released on September 1.
 
The Stags return five runners from their region-winning team: Kris Brown, Georgi Dinolov, Brian Kopczynski, Kramer Straube and Brian Sutter.  All five earned All-SCIAC honors last year with Straube, Kopczynski, Sutter and Dinolov also earning All-Region honors.  In addition to winning the region, CMS also won the SCIAC and went on to place 15th at the NCAA Championships.
 
The Athenas return six runners from last year’s regional squad: Kate Crawford (SO, Seattle, WA), Julia Rigby, Ashley Scott, Jennifer Tav, Laura Wyatt and Aubrey Zimmerling.  Tav, Rigby and Scott earned All-SCIAC honors with Tav and Rigby also earning All-Region honors.  Tav was runner-up at both the SCIAC and Regional meets and earned All-American honors with her 27th 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 22nd 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.

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Junior college football season fast approaching

Don’t look now but it is already time for the area junior colleges to kick off their football seasons. All will be playing their season openers this Saturday. It will be Chaffey (4-6) heading to San Bernardino Valley College (5-5) for a 6 p.m. showdown and Mt. SAC (12-1) heading up the hill to square off against Victor Valley (6-4) in a 1 p.m. tussle.

It should be a very interesting season. At Chaffey, veteran coach Carl Beach has had his hands full. Not just because heading a football program is a time-consuming job. He has the added burden of serving as interim athletic director which gives one a handful of other headaches. Then there’s the renovation of the old gym which had housed the football offices, meeting area and weight room. For now things are pretty spread out.

Beach is more confident in his quarterback situation than he has been the last few years. The struggles of the offense were the main reason for the subpar showing recently.

Meanwhile Kevin Emerson worked some magic at SBVC in his debut in 2009, turning a 0-10 team into a more than respectable 5-5 one. The Wolverines won four of their last five games, topped off by a huge upset of then-unbeaten LA Harbor in the regular season finale. That says it all about where this program could be headed if it gets the proper administrative support. And that’s a big IF given what seems to be a lack of commitment to athletics in recent years.

Then there is Mr. intensity up at Victor Valley in Dave Hoover. The Rams are always going to play hard and be competitive. Numbers are up and Hoover said he has more depth and quality depth than he has had before in his 10-year tenure. He had problems with a lot of his out-of-state players last year but has weeded out the undesirables, That can only help.

 More on all the local teams coming up this week with separate previews of each school. 

 

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Cal State East Bay gets CCAA basketball tourney

The 2011 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships have been awarded to Cal State East Bay, conference commissioner Robert J. Hiegert announced on Monday.
The 16-team event will be contested March 1-5 with the semifinals and championship games slated for Pioneer Gymnasium (3,500) on the campus of Cal State East Bay in Hayward. The championship format calls for eight men’s and eight women’s teams to compete in first-round games at campus sites on March 1 with the winners advancing to the semifinals on March 4 in Hayward. The championship games will be played on Saturday, March 5.
“Through a vote of the CCAA’s Executive Council, Cal State East Bay was chosen as the championship site over Cal State San Bernardino and Humboldt State,” Hiegert said. “Since the return of the CCAA Basketball Championships in 2008, the event has continued to grow and last year’s tournament at Humboldt State set a revenue record.
“By electing Cal State East Bay as the 2011 host, Bay Area fans will have an opportunity to watch outstanding Division II college basketball,” Hiegert added. “The CCAA has a storied and rich basketball history as evidenced by Cal Poly Pomona winning to the 2010 NCAA Men’s National Championship.”
Cal State East Bay will be the third different campus to host the tournament since 2008 and will serve as a true neutral site. The Pioneers, who are in their second year as a member of the CCAA, are re-classifying from Division III to Division II, and have one year remaining before they are eligible to compete for NCAA and conference championships.
“Cal State East Bay is pleased to have the opportunity to host the CCAA basketball championships.  We are proud to be a part of a great conference and in the unique situation for 2011 of providing a neutral site for the championship in a good facility with which the conference is already familiar,” Cal State East Bay Director of Athletics Debby De Angelis said.  “Pioneer Athletics are looking forward to involving Hayward and the entire East Bay area in helping to showcase the CCAA and its great basketball programs.”
Since its return in 2008, the CCAA Tournament has been held at Cal State San Bernardino (2008 and 2009) and Humboldt State (2010).
Cal State San Bernardino is the two-time defending men’s champion while Humboldt State captured the women’s title in 2010.
2011 CCAA Basketball Championships
Pioneer Gymnasium, Hayward, Calif.
March 1-5, 2011
March 1 (Tue) – At Campus Sites
 
March 4 (Fri) – Hayward
Women’s Semifinal No. 1 – TBA
Women’s Semifinal No. 2 – TBA
Men’s Semifinal No. 1 – TBA
Men’s Semifinal No. 2 – TBA
March 5 (Sat) – Hayward
Women’s Championship – 5:00 p.m.
Men’s Championship – 7:30 p.m.

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