The University of Redlands swimming & diving teams squared off against the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) meet on Saturday at the beautiful Thompson Aquatic Center. Among multiple season-best times, the Redlands men tallied six top-two showings but fell short in a 77-201 decision, while the Bulldog women registered nine first- or second-place finishes in a 101-179 defeat.
For the women, senior Akari Matsumoto (Redmond, WA) started things off right with her first-place score of 209.95 on the three-meter board. Junior Jessica Kolsky (Red Wing, MN) backed her with a second-place tally of 201.20 points. In the one-meter competition, sophomore Lindsay Nichols (Arroyo Grande, CA) headed up a second-through-fourth domination for the Bulldogs by registering a score of 215.15. Matsumoto and Kolsky joined her among the top finishers with respective scores of 212.05 and 210.80.
Junior Ellie Jaques (Covina, CA) impressed amidst the tough competition by earning a pair of first-place times and a second-place showing. She won the 100 Breast with a time of 1:08.76, which was more than two seconds faster than the runner-up from Pomona-Pitzer. She touched the wall second in the 100 Free while uncorking a season-best time of 55.12. Finally, she capped off a solid day by winning the 200 Breast with another season-best time to head up a podium sweep for the Bulldogs. She out-swam all competition with her time of 2:30.61, while sophomore Claire Stuhr (Portland, OR) and junior Jessica Rivers (Renton, WA) quickly followed with respective times of 2:32.75 and 2:33.27.
Stuhr also placed second in the 400 Individual Medley with a season-best time of 4:48.69. Freshman Kate Canfield (Naperville, IL) rounded out the Bulldogs' highlights with her second-place showing in the 200 Back, clocking in at 2:12.19.
For the men, the Bulldogs gained valuable points from their divers, with junior Miko Mallari (Palo Alto, CA) winning the three-meter with a score of 191.55 and taking second on the one-meter by tallying 197.55 points. Sophomore Henry Stuckenschmidt (Fresno, CA) also took home the bronze on the low dive with his score of 186.30.
Junior Eric Bugna (Vancouver, WA) and sophomore Corey Winter (Ripon, CA) recorded the only other first-place showings for the Maroon and Gray. Bugna won the 200 Fly in 2:01.97, while Winter landed atop the podium in the 200 Back by out-touching the competition with a time of 2:04.32.
In addition, freshman Zack Amendola (Palos Heights, IL) finished second in the 400 IM by touching the wall in 4:19.06.
Finally, the 400 Free Relay of junior Will Tyrrell (Portland, OR), freshman Joe Widuch (Naperville, IL), Bugna, and Amendola took home the silver with a time of 3:16.76.
Redlands looks forward to a short break in conference action by hosting Trinity University (TX) on Saturday, January 23, at 10:30 a.m. in the Thompson Aquatic Center.
