Updated 8/1/25
After opening its doors in 1946, Claremont Men’s College first began competing in the SCIAC in 1947-48, when it combined with Pomona College to form one athletic team (Pomona College had been competing since the SCIAC’s inception in 1915). Pomona-Claremont competed in the SCIAC for 11 years and during that time won 25 SCIAC titles.
In 1958–59, Claremont Men’s College separated from Pomona College athletically and combined with Harvey Mudd College to compete as the Claremont-Mudd Stags. The program continued as this entity until the SCIAC began sponsoring women’s sports in 1976–77, when Scripps College joined the collaboration, at which time it adopted its current name of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and Athenas was selected as the nickname for the women's teams.
The men’s program has now won 230 SCIAC titles and the women’s program has won 146 SCIAC titles, both the most among SCIAC programs. The combined total of 376 is over 100 more than the closest rival in the league.
The SCIAC all-sports competition began in 1972–73, which awards points to programs based on the finish of each sport in the SCIAC standings. In the 49 years of the competition the CMS men’s program has won the award 44 times. With the addition of the women’s sports in 1976–77, the competition was expanded to include a women’s award as well as an overall award. The CMS women’s program has won 27 All-Sports Trophies including 25 of the last 31. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has won the combined All-Sports Trophy 35 times with victories in 33 of the last 38 years.
CMS has won as many as 14 SCIAC titles in one year (2016–17), out of the 21 championships the league sponsors. The most men’s titles CMS has won in one year is eight during 1989–90, while the Athenas matched that total with eight titles in 2018-19.
In addition to a strong showing in the SCIAC, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has also performed well in postseason competition. CMS has won nine national championships in either the NAIA (1) or NCAA D-III (8). In 2017, the women’s volleyball team won its first national title, which was also the first NCAA women’s team title in CMS history. That same academic year, women's golf and women's tennis both won their first national championships to give the Athenas three championships in one year, while women's tennis won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 (resuming after COVID-19 interrupted a 2020 season in which they were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation, and canceled the 2021 season). The women's water polo team (2001 Collegiate III Championship) and men's water polo team (2023 USA Water Polo Division III Championship) have each claimed one national title as varsity programs as well.
In 2015, the men’s tennis team won its second national championship, after a tie for the title in 1981, while the men’s golf team won its first national title one year later in 2016. Additionally, Claremont-Mudd won the NAIA swimming and diving crown in 1967. The men’s swimming/diving and tennis teams have also combined to win 14 second-place trophies at the NCAA Championships, while men’s soccer was the NCAA runner-up in 1983, women's tennis was the runner-up in 2019, and women's cross country was the runner-up in 2021.
Individually, CMS athletes have won 65 NCAA titles in eight sports, including men’s and women's golf, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track and field. The department produced three individual champions in three sports in 2024-25 with Lucas Lang (swimming), Advik Mareedu (men's tennis) and Lindsay Eisenman (women's tennis) each winning individual crowns.
In 1995–96 the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics began their Directors’ Cup Competition for Division III institutions. This competition is similar to the SCIAC All-Sports competition except that points are earned based on national results, and there are over 400 eligible programs instead of nine. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has finished in the top 20 a total of 14 times, including six in the top 10, and a program-best third place finish for the 2017-18 season. The 12th place finish in 2024-25 also marked the 12th season in a row that CMS has placed in the top 15.
