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Claremont, Calif. - Sophomore Alex Lincoln won both the 100 and the 200-yard freestyle events to lead the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Swimming and Diving team to a 138-82 win over Whittier in its SCIAC opener on Friday at Haldeman Pool.
Junior Sarah Tuggy (pictured celebrating) also won a key, close race in the 200-yard breaststroke to help the Sagehens pull away at the end of the meet.
Whittier got off to a quick start, as the Poets earned wins in both the medley relay and the 1650-yard freestyle. Lincoln and freshman Vicky Gyorffy came in 1-2 in the 200-yard freestyle to get the Sagehens back in it, but the Poets picked up wins in the 50-yard freestyle, the individual medley and the 200-meter butterfly to win five of the first six events.
Ultimately, though, Pomona-Pitzer's depth proved to be too much, as Lincoln took the 100-meter freestyle, and then Jackie Tran (2:17.71), Maddy DeMeules (2:19.11) and Nola Shi (2:20.06), came in 1-2-3 in the 200-yard backstroke, the only clean sweep of the top three spots in any event for either team on the day.
After Pomona-Pitzer's Avery Barron earned the nine points from the diving competition uncontested, Gyroffy then helped cement the win away for the Sagehens by winning the 500-yard freestyle in a close race with Whitier's Erin Bartholomew (5:26.14 to 5:27.96). Tuggy then edged out Haley von Schottenstein of Whittier in a dramatic 200-yard breaststroke race, with Tuggy touching the wall at 2:33.10, just ahead of von Schottenstein's 2:33.89.
Pomona-Pitzer then won the final freestyle relay with a team of Larissa Nakatsu, Shi, Gyorffy and Kristen Lindbergh to extend their final margin to over 50 points.
The Sagehens will be back in action tomorrow for another SCIAC meet at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.