Men's race tightens, Pomona-Pitzer women hold firm lead

LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Pomona-Pitzer women's team extended its lead but the men's race tightened up after three days at the SCIAC Swimming & Diving Championships in La Mirada, Calif. The Sagehen women lead by 86 points but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps closed the gap on the men's side as the Sagehens lead by just 18 points heading into the final day.

Pomona-Pitzer's 725 points leads the women's field with CMS following with 629 points. Redlands is in third with 452 points. Chapman narrowly held on to fourth with 269 points ahead of Cal Lu's 258, Whittier's 257 and Occidental's 250. La Verne is in eighth with 205 points and Caltech is in ninth with 172.

The Pomona-Pitzer men are clinging to the lead with 731 points but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps isn't far behind with 713 points. Redlands is third with 425 points and Cal Lutheran is in fourth with 321. Occidental's 285 points sit just ahead of Whittier's 278 and La Verne's 236.5. Caltech is eighth with 191 points and Chapman is ninth with 156.5.

CMS' Patrick Quarberg and La Verne's Scott Mackay were neck-and-neck through the finals of the men's 1-meter diving competition. In the end, Quarberg edged out Mackay for his second title of the meet. Quarberg came away with a 499.35 while Mackay recorded a 498.40. Cal Lutheran's Lucas Reddell took third with a 434.75. All three qualified for regionals.

The top-5 finishers of the men's 400 IM all achieved NCAA provisional qualifying times but Pomona-Pitzer's Samuel To took home the SCIAC title, dropping seven seconds from his prelims. To swam a 4:00.87 to pace the field while Redlands' Zack Amendola came in just behind at 4:01.36. CMS' John Everett took third with a 4:02.63.

Redland's Ellie Jacques set a new SCIAC meet record in the morning and set it again in the finals to take home the women's 400 IM title with a time of 4:30.11. Pomona-Pitzer's Vee Vanderpoel took second at 4:32.73 and CMS' Lauren Rosenberger followed in third at 4:34.95. The top-4 finishers in the event all recorded NCAA "B" cuts.

Matthew Williams from CMS took the Stags' second title of the day with a winning time of 48.97 in the 100 fly. Occidental's Austin Lashley wasn't far behind with a 49.10 and CMS' Matt Valentine was third at 49.31. All three earned an NCAA "B" cut.

CMS' Stephanie Doi swam an NCAA "B" cut to take the SCIAC title in the women's 100 fly with a time of 56.71. Pomona-Pitzer's Sarah Jin took second with a 57.21 and Cal Lutheran's Alexia Rojas finished third at 57.66.

Mark Hallman broke his own SCIAC meet record in the men's 200 free to repeat as the SCIAC champion with a 1:38.58. The Pomona-Pitzer star's time was also an NCAA "B" cut. CMS' Alex Poltash took second with a 1:40.34 and Cal Lutheran's Zach Loza came in third at 1:41.42.

Caltech's Brittany Percin's NCAA "B" cut time of 1:52.52 won her the SCIAC title in the women's 200 free. Whittier's Carly Carazo finished next at 1:53.10 while CMS' Kelly Ngo followed in third at 1:53.52.

All three All-SCIAC finishers came away with NCAA provisional qualifying times but Whittier senior Tony Martir dominated the race with a winning time of 54.91. CMS' Zach Alleva took second at 56.62 and Pomona-Pitzer's Teddy Koerner came in third with a 56.73.

CMS' Emily McKinnon took home the SCIAC women's 100 breast title with an NCAA "B" cut of 1:05.22. Pomona-Pitzer Erin Bigus took second at 1:06.38. Occidental's Ellie O'Brien finished third with a time of 1:06.78.

CMS' Matt Williams won his third consecutive SCIAC title in the men's 100 back with an NCAA "B" time of 49.11. Williams was followed by Pomona-Pitzer's Ryan Drover in second with a 51.23 and Redlands' Will Tyrell in third with a 51.55.

A couple of Pomona-Pitzer freshmen finished 1-2 in the 100 back with both getting NCAA "B" cuts. Angela Ling won the SCIAC title with a 56.08 ahead of teammate Sarah Jin at 57.36. Redlands' freshman Kate Canfield took third with a 58.07.

CMS narrowly missed its school record but came in well under the NCAA "B" cut with a SCIAC title winning time of 3:18.55 in the men's 400 medley relay. The quartet of Matthew Williams, Zach Alleva, Matt Valentine and Noah Deer was just 0.25 seconds shy of the meet record. Pomona-Pitzer took second in the relay with a 3:23.56 and Redlands finished third with a 3:27.12.

Pomona-Pitzer's all freshmen team of Angela Ling, Erin Bigus, Sarah Jin and Madison Kauahi sprinted ahead on the final leg to take the SCIAC women's 400 medley relay title with a time of 3:51.26. CMS came in second at 3:52.32 and Redlands followed in third with a 3:54.67.

by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director