CLAREMONT, Calif. - Jerry Xu finished second and Jacob Pippel fourth as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team finished in second place, just six points out of first, at the SCIAC Championships on Friday morning at the Pomona-Pitzer cross country course. 

The host Sagehens finished with 33 points to edge out CMS with 39, the closest finish since the two teams tied for first in 2019, with the Stags winning the title via the tiebreaker. 

Heading into the final 2000 meters, the Stags were in first place with six of the top 10 in the individual race, but the Sagehens were able to finish strong to hold on to the SCIAC title.

Xu was second in the individual race with a time of 24:46.8, behind only winner Stian Asper of Redlands, who crossed in 24:33.3. Pippel's fourth-place finish earned him first-team All-SCIAC honors in 25:05.9, while Brennan Tobin added first-team honors by coming in tenth in 25:21.3. 

Jonas Rickert and Arnav Shetty were 11th and 12th to finish off the Stags top-five scorers, earning second-team All-SCIAC honors. Charlie Routledge was 15th, Raja Mehendale 17th and Tay Ohr-Rottler 19th to earn second-team distinction as well. 

Pablo Meyers (21st), Ethan Wood (23th), Ferguson Wheeler (26th) and Rowan Haywood-O'Neill (30th) were in the top 30 for CMS out of 128 runners, while Pierce Clark (34th) and Benjamin Kraus (36th) were in the top 40. 

CMS will be back in action in two weeks for the NCAA West Regionals in Spokane, Washington on Nov. 14, hoping to earn its way back to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 21 at Carleton College in Minnesota.