The Women Who Built It

When Claremont McKenna College (then known as Claremont Men's College) made the decision to become co-educational beginning in 1976, it represented a major turning point in the institution's history. One of the many significant changes was that the athletic department, until then competing only in men's sports as Claremont-Mudd, welcomed women's sports under its umbrella for the first time.

Fortunately, SCHM (as women's teams were initially called before CMS became the acronym for the entire department) didn't have to start from scratch, as the groundwork was already in place at Scripps College, where several sports teams had been competing intercollegiately even before merging with Claremont-Mudd. In those early years, there were many trailblazers who helped create the foundation, while some of the first student-athletes to join the new women's athletic department helped establish a high standard right from the start, putting the initial building blocks in place.

Here are profiles of just a few of the many women who built it:  

Gerry Lahanas (Tennis/Athletics Administration)
A decade before Claremont-Mudd-Scripps became a co-ed entity in 1976, Lahanas had already begun the process of building the women's athletic department. She founded the Scripps College tennis team in 1967, which was the college's first intercollegiate athletic program. Scripps Tennis competed in the Southern California Women's Intercollegiate Tennis League, and captured a B Division championship in its inaugural season, while calling themselves the Athenas. Lahanas became the first women's athletic director at CMS after Claremont McKenna became Co-Ed in 1976, and continued to coach the women's tennis program until 1981. She also fought to keep the Athenas nickname, helping to maintain the unique identity of the women's programs that she helped create.

Ronnie Brosterman (Athletics Administration/Faculty Athletics Representative)
Brosterman was the first faculty athletics representative from Scripps College. She helped develop the first women's teams at CMS, in concert with the Claremont McKenna faculty athletics representative John Roth and Harvey Mudd athletics representative Bill Sly. She performed with the Boston Ballet prior to graduating from MIT and went on to serves as the chair of the dance department at Scripps. During her tenure with Scripps, she received numerous grants from the City of Los Angeles, the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts in support of her choreography and producing activities.

Kathleen Hurley (Cross Country/Track and Field/Volleyball)
Hurley was the very first female student accepted and enrolled into Claremont McKenna College, and she competed for the track and field, volleyball and cross country programs over the course of her four years in Claremont. She was a member of the first women's SCIAC championship-winning team at CMS, which she earned in her first season with the cross country program in 1978, helping the Athenas win in only their second year of existence. Hurley competed on the track and field team all four seasons, and began her CMC career playing volleyball in the fall, before joining the cross country team in 1978 and helping the Athenas to the championship.

Mary Tracey (Cross Country/Track and Field)
Tracey became the first Athena All-American, when she captured AIAW All-America distinction as a senior on the women's cross country team in 1980. She was part of the first Athena SCIAC Championship team in 1978, when she finished second at the SCIAC meet to lead CMS to the league title, and also earned All-SCIAC honors for the track and field team in the spring. Tracey became the first woman in the CMS Hall of Fame, when she was inducted in 1992. She kept competing after her 1981 graduation from Scripps, winning the Long Beach Marathon in 1986, representing the United States in Croatia at the World University Games in 1987, and qualifying for the United States Olympic Trials in the Marathon in 1988.

Jodie Burton (Basketball-Volleyball-Golf Coach/Athletics Administration)
Burton joined CMS as the women's basketball coach in 1979, just three years after women's athletics began, and was part of the athletic department for 45 years until her retirement in 2024. During her career, Burton served as the senior women's administrator for the department, helping to increase the number of women's sports from six to 11 during her tenure. She has also served as the volleyball coach and the interim women's tennis coach in her early years, and became the first head coach of the women's golf program in 2007, overseeing its elevation from club status and leading the Athenas to a national title in 2018.

Brett Eppich Beal (Swimming and Diving)
After the NCAA first began sponsoring women's sports in 1981-82, the CMS swimming and diving team became the first Athenas team to place at an NCAA event, earning a 19th-place finish at the 1982 NCAA Division III Championships, hosted by UMass Boston. Leading the way for the Athenas was senior Brett Eppich Beal, who took All-America honors in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, which made her the first Athena individual to score at an NCAA event in its first season sponsoring women's sports. She also set a SCIAC record in the 200-yard breaststroke at the SCIAC Championships, while winning the 100-yard breaststroke and contributing to a 400-yard medley relay win.
 

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As part of the 50 Years of Co-Education Celebration at Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College Centennial Celebration, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps athletics department will be celebrating 50 years of Athenas over the course of the 2026-27 academic year. We will be highlighting just some of the many individuals who have helped make CMS one of the top women's athletic departments in the country.  Our list is not meant to be comprehensive, but will highlight some of the people who have had a significant impact, to help tell the story of the growth and success of the Athenas over the last five decades, with a new chapter added every month on our home page: 50 Years of CMS Women's Athletics.

The list was developed with support from the CMC 50 years of Co-Education Athletics Committee:

Staff Leads Kerry Steere and Raechel Holmes
Jodie Burton
Rachana Bhat
Erica Perkins Jasper
Mike Sutton '76
Felicia Davis '01
DT Graves '98
Jenna Grunwald '19
Corie Hack '19
Kathleen Hurley '80
Sue Matteson King '85
Maya Love '20
Shelby McIlroy '26
Jay Tremblay '80
Riley Zitar '26