Pomona-Pitzer maintains its lead on both sides of the leaderboard with the men posting 393 points and the women with 374 points at the 2016 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships. The Chapman women’s team made a significant jump in the standings going from eighth place to fourth place at the end of day two. The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s team made a noteworthy push from fifth place to second place through fourteen events.
On the 1-meter diving board, Chapman’s freshman Kelly Toole took home the title with a score of 444.00. Carli Lessard from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps took second with a 423.15 and Pomona-Pitzer’s Dawn Barlow rounded out the All-SCIAC finishers with a 402.65.
Sophomore Mark Hallman from Pomona-Pitzer set a new SCIAC meet record in the men’s 500 freestyle and finished with a time of 4:28.50. It was a tight finish for second and third as sophomore Jonah Hobbs from California Lutheran University inched past sophomore Brandon Pon from University of La Verne. Hobbs finished with a time of 4:36.70 and Pon posted a time of 4:36.90.
In the women’s 500 freestyle, sophomore Kelsey Thomas from Pomona-Pitzer took first place with a time of 5:01.10. Close behind her was her teammate Kay Sterner who came in second with a time of 5:04.23. In third place was sophomore Elizabeth Carrade representing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a time of 5:05.16.
In the men’s 200 IM, sophomore from Pomona-Pitzer Samuel To finished well under the Division III B cut time with a time of 1:50.67. In a close second place was senior Matt Valentine from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who also finished under the B cut time posting a 1:51.51. In third place, representing the University of Redlands, Zack Amendola came in with a time of 1:53.16.
Junior Stephanie Doi from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps claimed first place in the women’s 200 IM with a B cut of 2:05.41. In second place, Ellie Jacques, a junior from the University of Redlands, posted a time of 2:07.17. In third place, a junior from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Emily McKinnon with a time of 2:08.48.
In the men’s 50 freestyle senior Alex Poltash of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps claimed first place with a provisional qualifying time of 20.51. Second and third place finished within one one-hundredth of a second but it was senior Will Westwater of Occidental edging out Noah Deer from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Westwater posted a time of 20.94 and Deer finished with a time of 20.95.
In the women’s 50 freestyle, Madison Kauahi from Pomona-Pitzer posted a new SCIAC meet record of 23.38 to take first. Coming in second place from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was junior Nelly Ngo with a time of 23.49. In third place with a time of 24.27 was Courtney Chan also representing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The men’s 200 freestyle relay came down to a close finish between Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer but CMS edged out the Sagehens, posting a new SCIAC meet record with a time of 1:21.61. Pomona came in with a time of 1:22.03 and, to round out the top three, Occidental College came in with a time of 1:23.34.
The women’s 200 freestyle relay came down to six one-hundredths of a second as Pomona-Pitzer beat out Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a time of 1:35.41. CMS posted a time of 1:35.47 and Whittier College finished third place with a time of 1:38.44.
The championship continues tomorrow with the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 400 medley relay and the men’s 1-meter diving finals.
SCIAC contributed this report.
