The University of Redlands swimming & diving teams opened the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship with solid results at the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center in Commerce. The men sit in second place with 231.5 points, while the Bulldog women are in third with 173 points after day one.
For the women, sophomore Lauren Robeznieks (Tigard, OR), freshman Ellie Jaques (Covina, CA), junior Summer Harp (San Bernardino, CA), and senior Chandra Lukes (Escondido, CA) initiated the Maroon and Gray's strong performance by winning the 200 Free Relay with a time of 1:36.86. After leading for the first 100 yards of the race, the foursome fell behind briefly before uncorking a 23.85 split in the final 50 to out-touch the competitors from Pomona-Pitzer Colleges by 0.05.
Individually, Harp improved upon her preliminary time in the 500 Free to finish 10th overall at 5:12.22 as the top Bulldog. Junior Haley Thiltgen (San Diego, CA) made her way onto the podium in the 200 Individual Medley with a third-place time of 2:08.42. Lukes uncorked an NCAA "B" cut time of 23.62 in the 50 Free to take second.
In the last swimming event of the day, the 400 Medley Relay of Lukes, freshman Jessica Rivers (Renton, WA), Jaques, and Robeznieks put together a fourth-place time of 3:56.84, which was more than a seven-second improvement of its preliminary time.
Finally, the divers completed the finals of the one-meter competition, with freshman Jessica Kolsky (Red Wing, MN) finishing fourth in her SCIAC Championship debut. She registered a score of 394.65 with her best dive coming in her final effort, which garnered 47.15 points.
In addition, sophomore Akari Matsumoto (Redmond, WA) took ninth with her score of 322.35. After missing her first dive, she quickly recovered and performed admirably through her final five.
The Bulldog men gained a similar start to the competition as the women by winning the 200 Free Relay. While never trailing at the splits, senior Brent Reed (Dublin, CA), senior Nikolai Paloni (Greenwich, CT), senior Spencer Peugh (Alamo, CA), and sophomore Nelson Glendinning (Philadelphia, PA) put together a first-place time of 1:23.74.
Senior Patrick Wall (St. Louis, MO) served as Redlands' top finisher in the 500 Free, taking eighth with a time of 4:46.35.
The Bulldogs gained big performances in the 200 IM, as reigning NCAA Champion juinor Jeff Depew (Naperville, IL) captured the title, while senior David Ortyn (Bainbridge Island, WA) took second in the fast-paced event. Depew out-touched his teammate 1:50.93 to 1:51.62 to earn to top honors.
Reed highlighted the team's showing in the 50 Free by tying for sixth with a time of 21.11 seconds.
The opening day of the championships finished with freshman Eric Bugna (Vancouver, WA), Depew, Ortyn, and Reed combining forces for fourth place in the 400 Medley Relay by touching the wall in 3:26.14.
The SCIAC Championships continue on Saturday, as the Bulldogs take to the pool for the preliminaries in the morning, followed by the finals in the evening. Fans may follow the action through live web-streaming at http://takeitlive.tv/swimming/14tl011/. A user account with Livestream is required for access to the video.