RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Jerry Xu became the second Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country runner to break 24 minutes in an 8K race, clocking a 23:55.7 to come in 11th place at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday morning. 

CMS finished eighth overall out of a field of 25 teams that consisted mostly of Division I and Division II runners, while Xu was 11th out of 219 runners. 

Xu's time is behind only the 23:40.4 that Henry Pick ran at the 2021 NCAA Division III Championships to come in third place. Henry's younger brother, Oliver Pick, had the previous second-best time at CMS with a 24:08.6 set at the UC Riverside Invitational in 2024. Xu took almost 50 seconds off of his previous best time, which was a 24:44.6 set two years ago.

Jonas Rickert was the second Stag finisher in 24:33.7, which moves him into 14th in CMS history, while taking over 43 seconds off his previous best set last year at the Coyote Challenge. Jacob Pippel finished with a 24:49.9 and Raja Mehendale ran a 24:52.4, which puts him in the top 30 (29th) at CMS.

Brennan Tobin was the fifth scorer for CMS, right behind Mehendale in 24:53.0, while Arnav Shetty cracked the top 40 at CMS with a 25:03.7, placing him 40th. Rowan Haywood-O'Neill was close behind in 25:07.7, which places 44th at CMS, while Charlie Routledge now places 50th at CMS after clocking a 25:14.7.

CMS will be back in action in two weeks when it travels to the Division III Pre-Nationals in Minnesota.