By Cathleen Pruden, Swimming World College Intern
The 19th ranked Pomona-Pitzer women narrowly defeated SCIAC rivals Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in dual meet action Saturday afternoon, with a final score of 152-146. The 22nd ranked CMS men put up a more solid victory, finishing 174-124 over the Sagehens.
Women’s Meet
The meet was close from the start. CMS’ Carli Lessard posted a score of 241.80 to take the one meter diving while Pomona-Pitzer’s Dawn Barlow was second (224.40). The Sagehens relay of Angela Ling, Erin Bigus, Sarah Jin, and Madison Kauahi was first to the wall in the 200 medley relay (1:46.24). Kelsey Thomas continued the momentum, capturing the 1000 in a time of 10:42.38, not far ahead of the Athenas’ Elizabeth Carrade (10:45.40). CMS took the top two spots in the 200 freestyle. Kelly Ngo and Emma Stacey swam 1:56.54 and 1:57.82, respectively.
Pomona-Pitzer struck back in the 100 backstroke. Freshmen Ling and Jin finished in 57.40 and 58.13, the only finishers under a minute. In the 100 breaststroke, the Athenas were back on top as Emily McKinnon touched first (1:07.22). CMS captured another event when Stephanie Doi won a close 200 butterfly (2:09.48), while teammate Naomi Ngo was third (2:09.67) and Kara Miller-Radest finished second (2:09.65).
The sprinters came through for the Sagehens. Kauahi lead the way (23.94) and Cayla Nishizaki was second (24.81). Barlow was then the winner on the three meter board (232.30), less than four points better than Lessard (228.80). Kauahi was back again, this time posting the top time of 52.44 to win the 100 freestyle. Pomona-Pitzer then swept the 200 backstroke behind Ling (2:08.59), Lavinya Yap (2:10.95) and Vee Vanderpoel (2:12.20).
CMS grabbed a win in the 200 breaststroke. McKinnon stopped the clock at 2:25.70. Pomona-Pitzer struck back in the 500 freestyle. Thomas won her second distance event of the day in a time of 5:14.62. Doi captured her second individual win of the afternoon winning the 100 butterfly in a time of 57.81 and then had a quick turn around before winning the 200 IM (2:10.28). CMS posted one last impressive effort. Ngo, Courtney Chan, Stacy, and Riley Hoffman touched in 3:33.94 to win the 400 freestyle relay by a mere four tenths.
Men’s Meet
CMS’ divers also started out with a win on the men’s side. Victor Ginelli and Patrick Quarberg finished 1-2 on the three meter board (283.00 and 279.35). The first swimming event went to the Sagehens. Samuel To, Teddy Koerner, Daniel Villars, and Phillip Clayman won the 200 medley relay by a mere eight one hundredths. Their freshman teammate Jack Swanson then won the 1000 freestyle (9:52.56). Stag senior Alex Poltash (1:41.80) out touched Pomona-Pitzer’s Mark Hallman (1:41.89) to win the 200 freestyle. CMS continued to win events, taking the 100 backstroke as Matthew Williams stopped the clock at 49.82.
Freshmen were the top four finishers in the 100 breaststroke, but Pomona-Pitzer’s Koerner was first to the wall (57.59). CMS’ Matt Valentine won the 200 butterfly (1:51.50). Sagehen senior Clayman won the 50 freestyle (21.12) by just over a tenth. On the one meter board, Quarberg and Ginelli switched places, posting scores of 256.25 and 252.40. CMS teammates Joe Hinton and Noah Deer had a great 100 freestyle race, posting times of 46.96 and 47.05, respectively. Williams got his second individual win of the day in the 200 backstroke (1:52.31). His freshman teammate Aaron Lutzker was victorious in the 200 breaststroke (2:05.59). Another CMS freshman, Jackson Crewe won the 500 freestyle (4:44.97).
Pomona-Pitzer’s Samuel To was first to the wall in the 100 butterfly (50.88), just .01 ahead of CMS’ Valentine (50.89). Lutzker posted another win in the 200 IM (1:56.99). Poltash, Williams, Deer, and Hinton stopped the clock at 3:04.87 to end the afternoon with a win in the 400 freestyle relay.
Full results available here: 2016 CMS vs. Pomona-Pitzer Dual – Results
Congrats to Pomona Pitzer!!