With 14 first-place finishes, the University of Redlands men's and women's swimming and diving teams performed extremely well against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) challengers, Chapman University and Caltech. The men swept the competition beating Chapman 175-39 and Caltech 141-82. The women also took Caltech by a score of 175-47 and fell to Chapman by only point 120-121.
Junior Trey Gevers (Issaquah, WA) added essential points for the Bulldogs off the 1-meter (100.85) and 3-meter diving boards (171.35). The men's 200 Medley Relay team of first-year Blake Eddow (Corona, CA), sophomore Derrick Garcia (Orinda, CA), and juniors Jack McCormick (Santa Rosa, CA) and Eric Forbes (Ladera Ranch, CA) fired off a first-place time of 1:38.14.
Eddow also out-touched the competition in the 500 Free, finishing in 4:55.40 while Forbes took the top spot in the 200 Breast with a top finish of 2:13.99.
Just one event later, sophomore Tom Jansen (Pleasant Hill, CA) outswam his nearest competitor by ten seconds in the 1000 Free, finishing in 10:19.10.
In the 50 Free, Redlands hit a one-two punch as senior Michael Talag (Lakewood, CA) and McCormick clocked in at 21.96 and 22.05 seconds for first and second place. The Maroon and Gray also snagged first, second, and third place in the 100 Free as Talag touched the wall in 47.81, sophomore Samuel Ayers (Orinda, CA) in 48.63, followed by Rafael Zasas (Johannesburg, South Africa) in 48.65.
Finally, in the 400 Free Relay, McCormick, Ayers, Talag, and Zasas combined talents for a first-place finish in 3:13.90.
On the women's side, the Bulldogs began the day with a one-two finish in the 200 Medley Relay, led by sophomores Sydney Nakagawa (Vancouver, WA), Makenna Parenti (Rocklin, CA), Hanna Parker (Seattle, WA) and Emily Heaston (Corona, CA) in first place with a time of 1:53.10.
In the 1,000 Free, senior Courtney Gray (Yucaipa, CA) took second with a time of 11:42.95, while Nakagawa and Parenti finished second and third in the 50 Free with times of 25.30 and 25.77, respectively. Parenti also went on to earn medalist honors in the 200 Fly with a quality time of 2:14.96. First-year Sydney Cordova (Roseville, CA) followed in third by touching the wall in 2:28.63.
Nakagawa and Gray shined once more in the 200 Back, as Nakagawa took second-place with a time of 2:13.76 and Gray earned third place in the 500 Free with a time of 5:43.00.
The Bulldogs continued to turn in top-three finishes as junior Olivia Cano (Dublin, CA) finished .24 seconds behind first with a time of 2:14.73 in the 200 IM. Later in the day, she out-touched the competition in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:28.72. She was followed closely by senior Julia Hagenbaumer (Naperville, IL) and sophomore Madison Southmayd (Anthem, AZ) with times of 2:30.98 and 2:32.48, respectively in second and third place.
Less than a second behind the first-place finisher in the 100 Free, sophomore Jacqueline Setlich (Laguna Niguel, CA) claimed third with a time of 56.89. Heaston joined Setlich and first-years Leila Alejos (Portland, OR) and Gaby Hayon (Westlake Village, CA) in the 400 Free Relay, where they combined for a second-place time of 3:50.02.
On the boards, senior Sami Scarano (Boulder, CO) swept the competition with a dominating performance in both events. Off the three-meter board, she earned first place with a final score of 243.85, while nearly winning by over 100 points off the one-meter board with a score of 265.95.
The Bulldogs head to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday, January 18 for a meet slated to start at 10 a.m.