The University of Redlands swimming & diving program competed at the opening day of the 2012 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships on Sunday, with both teams moving into second place with two days to go.
UR's 400 Medley Relay highlighted the men's competition with a record-breaking effort that cut the Bulldogs' first-day deficit from 12 points to six in the race against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. The combination of senior Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA), senior Colin Gladys (Yorba Linda, CA), junior Chris Depew (Naperville, IL) and freshman Jeff Depew (Naperville, CA) clocked in a time of 3:21.25, which shattered the conference's previous mark by more than two seconds and annihilated the meet record by four seconds.
As a result, the men are just six points behind CMS with a score of 241, while the women face a 105-point deficit to the Athenas.
Redlands' 200 Free Relays both tallied third-place finishes to kick off the day's action. Senior K.C. Hughes (Gig Harbor, WA), junior Shirin Sedaghat (Boulder, CO) and the freshman combo of Margo Macready (Redlands, CA) and Chandra Lukes (Escondido, CA) recorded a time of 1:38.29 to just miss out on silver as they touched the wall .05 seconds behind Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. The full sophomore quartet of Clint Freeman (Brentwood, CA), Nikolai Paloni (Coronado, CA), Spencer Peugh (Alamo, CA) and Brent Reed (Dublin, CA) each clocked in sub 22-second splits en route to slotting in third place with an overall time of 1:25.36.
Macready gave the Maroon and Gray early momentum when she took home the top prize in the first individual event, winning the 500 Free with a career-best time of 5:04.39.
In the 200 IM, the U of R garnered two top-five marks with freshman Haley Thiltgen (San Diego, CA) and senior McKenzie Nakamura (Kenmore, WA) placing third (2:11.12) and fifth (2:11.90), respectively.
Continuing with her impressive freshman campaign, Lukes ripped off a personal-best time of 23.74 on her way to earning her inaugural conference title in the 50 Free.
The team's 400 Medley Relay of Nakamura, Lukes, junior Caitlin Michaels (Hanover, NH) and junior Lauren Zehner (Portland, OR) claimed another top-3 showing by posting a mark of 3:59.78 for third overall.
The men got off to a solid start with freshmen Eric LoPrete (Beaverton, OR) and David Sekula (LaGrange, IL) going 4-5 in the 500 Free with times of 4:45.62 and 4:45.84, respectively.
Redlands put together a big-time showing in the 200 IM, posting a clean 1-2-3 sweep while garnering four of the top six positions. Gladys led the charge by defending his title from a year ago with Sunday's top time of 1:50.95. C. Depew (1:51.99) and J. Depew (1:52.00) rounded out the winners' podium. Furthermore, sophomore David Ortyn (Bainbridge Island, WA) punched in a time of 2:01.17 for sixth place.
Harp, the three-time SCIAC Athlete of the Year, proved his dominance as a sprinter once again, capturing yet another SCIAC title. He won the 50 Free (20.85) with the field's lone sub-21-second time.
With the SCIAC Championships continuing on Monday and Tuesday, the Bulldogs look forward to battling it out with their conference foes at South Gate Stadium.
