EAGLE ROCK, Calif. – The University of Redlands Swimming & Diving teams ended their competition schedule for 2022 during the Oxy Invite over the weekend taking on Occidental College, Caltech, and California Lutheran University.
The men had an outstanding two-days finishing second overall with 614 points beating both Occidental (572.5 Points) and Cal Lutheran (438.5 Points). On the women's side they had limited numbers but put up 376 points, which put them fourth overall.
Men
For the men they compiled ten podium finishes with two wins both coming from Tom Jansen (Pleasant Hill, CA) who won the 500 Free in 4:34.40 and the 1650 Free in 15:57.66. The other Top-3 performances came from Blake Eddow (Corona, CA) in the 500 Free (4:40.43) and 200 Free (1:41.11) taking 3rd in both, Lucas Walker (Mountain View, CA) in the 200 IM (1:53.04) and the 200 Breast (2:04.53) finishing 2nd in both, Ethan Chir (Las Vegas, NV) in the 200 Breast coming in 3rd (2:08.24), Davis Wingard (Springfield, OR) in the 400 IM placing 3rd (4:13.26), the team of Walker, Chir, Drew Heaston (Corona, CA), and Eddow in the 400 Medley Relay taking 3rd (3:27.87), and the grouping of Jack Forsythe (Ladera Ranch, CA), Gile, Thomas Long (Brea, CA), and Eddow in the 400 Free Relay placing 2nd (3:07.45).
Other Top-5 finishes on the weekend included the 400 Medley Relay 'B' Team of Gile, Cole Goyette (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), Forsythe, and Long clocking in at a 3:29.62, Chir going 1:55.62 in the 200 IM to place 4th, Walker and Chir going 4-5 in the 100 Breast with times of 57.82 and 58.20, respectively, Heaston in the 200 Fly and 100 Fly taking 4th in both with times of 1:56.33 and 51.35, Andrew Barillas (Eastvale, CA) in the 1650 Free touching at a 17:36.56, the 200 Medley Relay 'A' Team of Gile, Walker, Heaston, and Long taking 4th with a time of 1:35.28, and lastly the 200 Free Relay 'A' Team of Forsythe, Gile, Long, and Eddow coming in 5th with a 1:25.49.
Other notable performances included Long placing 7th in the 200 IM (1:57.35), Forsythe coming in 7th in the 50 Free (21.51), Goyette placing 6th in the 200 Breast (2:13.62), Eddow taking 6th in the 100 Free (46.92), Jansen coming in at a 1:44.00 in the 200 Free to edge out Gile who finished 9th with a 1:44.01, Long leading a trio of Bulldogs in the 100 Breast going 6th-7th-8th, which included Long (58.30), Goyette (58.63), and Wingard (58.75), Heaston placing 9th in the 200 IM (1:58.92), and Long returning in the 100 Free placing 8th (47.22).
The final groupings to score for the Bulldogs came from the 200 Free Relay 'B' Team of Scott Shim (Seoul, South Korea), Chris Loudon (Anchorage, AK), Goyette, and Heaston who placed 9th (1:30.21), the 200 Medley Relay 'B' Team of Chir, Goyette, Forsythe, and Eddow who finished 7th (1:36.35), and the 400 Free Relay 'B' Team of Loudon, Goyette, Walker and Heaston who came in 7th (3:14.64).
Women
Freshman diver Violet Schultz (Aurora, CO) got things started for the Maroon and Grey taking sixth in the 1-Meter Dive with 186 Points. A pair of teams took part in the 400 Medley Relay led by the quartet of Abby Springer (Paso Robles, CA), Morgan Felix (Burnt Hills, NY), Sarah Szafranski (Houston, TX), and Leila Alejos (Portland, OR) who took 7th with a time of 4:13.08. The 'B' team of Lauren Kline (Lone Tree, CO), Maria Fe Garica Rodriguez, Ella Suazo (Littleton, CO), and Ashleigh Merrill (Anacortes, WA) were not far behind in 9th with a 4:18.23.
The first individual event was the 500 Free where Andrea Brenstrom (Shrewsbury, MA) posted a 5:24.45, which was good enough for fourth. Emily Walos (Redlands, CA) joined her in the event with an eighth place finish (5:38.67). Springer led the trio of Bulldogs in the 200 IM coming in seventh with a 2:18.60. Kline and Suazo went 11th-12th with a 2:19.20 and 2:20.94, respectively.
Merrill was the lone Bulldog to compete in the 50 Free taking 16th with a 25.94, Kline swam the 100 Back placing fourth with a 1:02.16. Four Bulldogs went 15th-18th in the 200 Free, which includes Brenstrom (2:06.57), Sydney Britton (Tacoma, WA) (2:08.46), Sydney Cordova (Roseville, CA) (2:08.46), and Alejos (2:08.48). Felix followed with a Top-5 finish in the 100 Breast taking fourth with a 1:09.23, while Garica Rodriguez would come in seventh with a 1:13.62.
Szafranski was the only Bulldog to swim in the 200 Fly taking fifth with a 2:19.22. Cordova was in the same boat in the 400 IM placing on the podium with a third place finish with a time of 5:06.90.
The top team in the 200 Free Relay was Alejos, Suazo, Kline, and Merrill who went 7th with a 1:45.18. Kline, Felix, Szafranski, and Merrill then came together to swim a 1:54.19 in the 200 Medley Relay placing sixth.
Springer and Britton went back to back for 5th-6th in the 200 Back swimming a 2:17.13 and 2:17.44, respectively. Merrill and Kline followed suit in the 100 Free coming in 11th and 12th with times of 56.36 and 57.72.
Felix came back for another individual event in the 200 Breast racing to an 8th place finish with a time of 2:35.95, while Garica Rodriguez would place 11th with a 2:44.31.
Springer and Szafranski both had Top-10 finishes in the 100 Fly boasting times of 1:01.32 and 1:02.68, while Merrill and Alejos would go 12th-13th. The last individual event was the 1650 Free where Brenstrom would take 4th with an 18:35.16. Emma Jones was less than a minute off that pace in 6th with a 19:05.95 and Abby Dimicco (Las Vegas, NV) would place 10th coming in at a 21:59.01.
The last event for the invite was the 400 Free Relay where Kline, Suazo, Alejos, and Merrill would come in at a 3:50.21, which placed them eighth. The 'B' team of Springer, Britton, Szafranski and Walos would follow in 10th with a 3:51.85.
Redlands has a long break from competition and will return in the New Year to take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps inside the Thompson Aquatic Center on Saturday, January 14 beginning at 10:30am.