CLAREMONT, Calif. - Jerry Xu of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's cross country team earned the SCIAC Athlete of the Week Award for events through Sunday, Sept. 20, the conference office announced today. 

Xu ran the second-fastest 8K time in CMS history, and became only the second Stag to break 24 minutes, when he clocked a 23:55.7 to come in 11th place out of at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday morning in a field of mostly Division I and Division II runners. 

In CMS annals, 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, 24:44.6, which he set two years ago.

CMS swept both cross country awards this week as well, as Isla Duncan earned it for the Athenas after recording the fourth-fastest time in CMS women's cross country history. 

The cross country teams return to action in two weeks when the travel to Minnesota for the NCAA Division III Pre-Nationals.