The excitement of the 2013 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Swimming & Diving Championships continued on Monday at SPLASH! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center, with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps remaining in front in both standings. The Stags more than doubled their advantage, while the women held steady with a 140-point lead.
With 801 points, the Stags appear to be comfortably riding toward their sixth consecutive conference title. Redlands' men boast 491 points, which is 200 more than third-place Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. The next four positions are within 100 points of each other.
On the women's side, the Athenas, who are vying for their 11th title in a row, sit atop the standings with 659 points, as Pomona-Pitzer holds down the second-place spot with 519 points. Occidental College and the University of Redlands are battling for third, with 341 and 332 points, respectively.
The second day got underway with the women's one-meter diving, which included a pair of 400-plus point showings. Jessica Robson shined for Occidental by taking the title with 412.85 points, while CMS' Carmen Lundell picked up a second-place honor with her score of 411.15.
The men's three-meter event saw James Stevick repeat as the champion with a 467.02-point effort. Jacob Tittl of the University of La Verne finished second (387.20) and Cal Lutheran University's Ryan Brem rounded out the podium-winners with his score of 371.75.
During the women's 200 Medley Relay, the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer recorded their first of four race titles of the day when Jacqueline Tran, Hannah Robertson, Maddy DeMeules, and Alex Lincoln posted an NCAA "B" time of 1:46.67. The Athena relay of Elsa Cheng, Maddy Gebhard, Erin MacLean, and Helen Liu closely followed with another NCAA "B" effort, touching the wall .27 behind the champions. The difference appeared to be in the backstroke portion of the competition, as Tran uncorked an impressive first split of 26.88.
In the men's race, Blake Weber, Brad Perfect, Patrick Shultz, and Joe Hinton captured the top honor for CMS with a blistering time of 1:31.27. This not only reset the meet record but surpassed the NCAA "B" standard. The Redlands quartet of Jeff Depew, Clint Freeman, Chris Depew, and Brent Reed also accomplished these feats but finished with a time of 1:31.83 for second place. The Bulldogs led through the first 100 yards before the Stags pulled ahead on the butterfly and freestyle portions of the race.
Pomona-Pitzer's Ellena Basada headed up a outstanding pace in the 400 Individual Medley, as she recorded a season-best time of 4:32.72. She and the next three finishers recorded NCAA "B" Cuts in the prcoess, with Sagehen Gai Portelance (4:35.08), Mackenzie Leake of CMS (4:36.12), and the 2012 champion, CLU's Mimi Harbach (4:36.50), joining forces for an exciting race.
The men's 400 IM was just as thrilling, with a trio of NCAA "B" performances filling the podium. CMS' Conrad Shabb swam an impressive final 50 to surge past the competitors with a total time of 4:00.76. Redlands' duo of David Ortyn and last year's champion, C. Depew, followed in second and third place with times of 4:01.54 and 4:07.23, respectively. In addition to the "B" Cut, Shabb and Ortyn both fired off season-best efforts, improving by more than five seconds each.
During the women's 100 Fly, three NCAA "B" performances highlighted the event, with Michele Kee successfully defending her title with a winning time of 56.22. Lauren Zehner of Redlands unleashed a second-place time of 57.04, while MacLean joined her Athena teammate on the podium by placing third in 57.53.
The second NCAA "A" Cut of the meet came during the men's 100 Fly, as Alex Najarian of Occidental out-touched his opponents in his first final with an impressive time of 49.33. Three of CMS' swimmers closely followed with NCAA "B" showings, as Patrick Shultz came in second (49.71), Marc Blumberg took third (49.80) and Jordan Lieberman landed fourth (50.28).
Pomona-Pitzer's Lincoln nabbed her team's third title of the day when she uncorked the only "B" time of the event by hitting the wall in 1:52.69. Beyond defending her title from a year ago, she shaved off more than three seconds from her season-best time, with her opening leg of 26.01 setting the stage for success early in the race. In addition, LillyBell Deer of CMS and Oxy's Juliet Suess battled for second place, with Deer prevailing with a time of 1:54.20, which was only .03 faster than the Tiger swimmer.
Cameron Whiting and Devin Bowers, both CMS swimmers, headed up the results in the men's 200 Free. They both came away with NCAA "B" times, as Whiting led from the first turn and completed the race in 1:40.97, and Bowers finished in 1:41.59. Redlands' Eric LoPrete recorded a season-best time of 1:42.67 for third place.
Occidental's Caroline Chang successfully repeated as champion in the 100 Breaststroke and posted another NCAA "B" time when she reached the wall in 1:04.42. Her teammate, Emily Watkins, joined her on the podium with a second-place time of 1:05.48, which also met the "B" standard.
During the men's 100 Breast, Oxy's Steven Van Deventer and La Verne's Marc Okimura rattled off impressive NCAA "A" times to take the top two positions in the results. Van Deventer registered a season-best effort of 55.70, while Okimura clocked in at 55.86. The next three swimmers all recorded "B" marks, with Oxy's Kevin Kuwata (56.95), CMS' Perfect (57.17) and Zach Alleva (57.63) firing off solid times.
Defending champion Maddie Lovrensky of La Verne reset the meet record in the 100 Back by rocketing to the wall in 56.56 en route to an NCAA "B" Cut. Chandra Lukes of Redlands closely followed with her "B" performance of 57.10, with Pomona-Pitzer's Hahn and Tran touching the wall in 58.19 for third and 58.36 for fourth, respectively, for additional "B" times among this talented crew of competitors.
A new champion was crowned in the men's 100 Back, as CMS' Weber unleashed an NCAA "B" time of 50.59 to win the event. Redlands' J. Depew also recorded a "B" mark, completing the race in 51.05 for second place.
Pomona-Pitzer's women wrapped up the second day with a nine-second improvement over their seed time in the 800 Free Relay to win the Sagehens' fourth title of the evening. Davis, Vicky Gyorffy, Johanna Rayl, and Lincoln combined forces for a "B" time of 7:43.41. Pomona-Pitzer trailed until the final 200 yards, when it closed in on the Redlands quartet of Lukes, Lauren Robeznieks, Jessica Medvec, and Lauren Zehner, who posted a second-place mark of 7:44.92. This was also a huge improvement, as the Bulldog foursome knocked off nearly 19 seconds from its seed time.
A pair of quartets reset the meet record in the men's 800 Free Relay, with both of them also recording NCAA "B" Cut times. CMS' Weber, Bowers, Blumberg and Whiting came out on top with a time of 6:43.56, while Redlands' Freeman, LoPrete, C. Depew, and Ortyn completed the race in 6:44.82. In an incredibly tight duel between these teams, CMS overcame an early deficit with steady performances and ultimately surged ahead down the final stretch.
Tuesday's action concludes the regular season for the SCIAC schools and begins with preliminaries at 9 a.m. The finals take place at 4 p.m. Fans may follow the action through live web streaming at http://takeitlive.tv/liveswim/?page_id=2791.
