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South Gate, Calif. – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps maintained its big lead, while Alex Lincoln (Palo Alto, Callif. - pictured) helped Pomona-Pitzer jump to third with a thrilling finish in the 200-yard freestyle on the second day of the SCIAC Swimming and Diving Championships at South Gate Pool on Monday evening.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps maintained its lead on the men's side over Redlands, thanks to a photo-finish in the 200 medley relay (five-hundredths of a second), the first of several exciting finishes on the day, including Lincoln's win by four-hundredths of a second.
After the second of three days, CMS leads on the men's side by just 607-567 over Redlands. On the women's side, the Athenas have a more comfortable 750-421 advantage over Redlands. Pomona-Pitzer is now in third place on both the men's and women's sides.
Despite being in second place in the team race, Redlands continued to have the top individual stories of the championships, though. Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, Calif.) continued his storybook career by winning the 200-yard freestyle in a new SCIAC and meet record time of 1:38.92, an NCAA "A" cut, while Collin Gladys broke his own meet records in the 100-yard butterfly (49.25) and the 100-yard breaststroke (55.64) to earn "A" cuts in those events.
The hosts from Pomona-Pitzer also had an exciting photo finish go its way in the women's 200 freestyle, as Lincoln won her first SCIAC championship by four-hundredths of a second over Margo Macready (Redlands, Calif.) of Redlands. Macready led by a quarter of a body length coming into the final two strokes, but Lincoln out-stretched her to the wall in 1:54.27 to Macready's 1:54.31. All-American Max Scholten (Boulder, Colo.) also won the 100-yard men's backstroke for the hosts, repeating as champion in the event.
Lincoln's four-hundredths of a second win for the Sagehens wasn't even the closest race of the day as Maddie Lovrensky (Alto Loma, Calif.) of La Verne won the women's 100-yard backstroke in 57:46, just three-hundredths of a second ahead of Kate Bilotti (Orinda, Calif.) of CMS.
Here are recaps from each of the competitions on the second day.
Women's 200 Medley Relay: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps continued its relay dominance on the women's side, winning with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:46.57. Elsa Chang (Cupertino, Calif.), Ching Tung (Hong Kong, China), Kate Bilotti (Orinda, Calif.) and Helen Liu (Bellevue, Wash.) made up the winning team for the Athenas. Pomona-Pitzer held off Occidental for second place, 1:49.27 to 1:50.13.
Men's 200 Medley Relay: A photo finish in the final leg went to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps by five-hundredths of a second in what could prove to be a pivotal fingertip in the team championship. The Stags came into the day with a six-point lead on Redlands, and the Bulldogs could've pulled into first place with a win, but came up just short – 1:33.44 to 1:33.49. Brad Perfect (Engelfield Green, England), Devin Bowers (McMinnville, Ore.), Blake Weber (Redwood City, Calif.) and Jordan Lieberman (Hillsborough, Calif.) made up the winning team for the Stags. La Verne was in third place at 1:36.00.
Women's 400 IM: Mimi Harbach (Romeo, Mich.) of Cal Lutheran earned the title with an NCAA "B" cut time of 4:35.05. Haley Thiltgen (San Diego, Calif.) of Redlands came in second with a time of 4:39.08, while Erin Bartholomew (Midlothian. Va.) of Whittier came in third in 4:39.36.
Men's 400 IM: Christopher Depew (Naperville, Ill.) of Redlands (4:01.98) won a competitive race that saw the top four finishers all earn NCAA "B" cuts. Austin Hallett (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) of CMS came in second (4:03.86), followed by David Ortyn (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) of Redlands in 4:04.08 and Tim Storer (Lincoln, Mass.) of CMS in 4:04.14.
Women's 100 Butterfly: Michele Kee (Diamond Bar, Calif.) won the race in 56.64, which was a 1-2-3 sweep for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Kee and Helen Liu (Bellevue, Wash.), who finished in 57.44, both earned NCAA "B" cuts, while Erin MacLean (Bellevue, Wash.) was third for the Athenas in 58.58.
Men's 100 Butterfly: Collin Gladys (Yorba Linda, Calif.) of Redlands set a new meet record and an NCAA "A" cut with a 49.25. Jordan Lieberman (Princeton, N.J.) of CMS earned a B cut time in 50.62, as Marc Blumberg (Davis, Calif.)and Patrick Shultz (Los Gatos, Calif.) helped the Stags finish 2-3-4 behind Gladys with time of 50.85 and 51.42, respectively.
Women's 200 Freestyle: Alex Lincoln (Palo Alto, Calif.) of Pomona-Pitzer (see above) won the second-closest race of the day on the final stretch to the wall to remain undefeated in SCIAC competition in the event this season. Margo Macready (Redlands, Calif.) of Redlands led the race for most of the first 199 yards, but came in a close second at 1:54.31. Maddie Crawford (Deephaven, Minn.) of CMS came in third place in 156.23.
Men's 200 Freestyle: Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, Calif.) of Redlands set a new SCIAC (regular season and championship) record with a 1:38.92, earning an automatic qualifier for the NCAA's. Clint Freeman (Brentwood, Calif.) of Redlands and Jeffrey McNerney (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) of CMS earned "B" cuts with their second and third place finishes.
Women's 100 Breaststroke: Caroline Chang (Lisle, Ill.) of Occidental came in first with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:05.60, beating Emma Jones (Eugene, Ore.) of CMS by more than a second (1:06.92). Emily Watkins of Occidental came in third in 1:07.16.
Men's 100 Breaststroke: Collin Gladys (Yorba Linda, Calif.) of Redlands earned an automatic "A" cut to the NCAA Championships with a 55.64 in the morning preliminaries, breaking his own meet record, and then won the finals in 55.88. It was his second "A" cut of the weekend, as he also earned one on Sunday in the 200 individual medley. Marc Okimura (Honolulu, Hawaii) of La Verne was second in 57.40, while Vincent Pai (Walnut, Calif.) of CMS came in third. Steven Van Deventer (Naperville, Ill.) of Occidental fourth in the finals with another 57.68, a "B" cut time.
Women's 100 Backstroke: Maddie Lovrensky (Alto Loma, Calif.) of La Verne won the closest race of the day (see above) over Kate Bilotti (Orinda, Calif.) of CMS by a final of 57:46 to 57:49, both of which were NCAA "B" cuts. Chandra Lukes (Escondido, Calif.) of Redlands also earned a "B" cut and came in third place in 58.02.
Men's 100 Backstroke: Max Scholten (Boulder, Colo.) of Pomona-Pitzer defended his title with a 50.77, earning a "B" cut (although he already had an "A" cut from earlier this season at the Finis Invitational). Shane Hunter (West Covina, Calif.) of La Verne finished a close second in 50.90 to earn a "B" cut, while Jeff DePew (Naperville, Ill.) of Redlands earned a "B" cut with a 51.38, as did Jordan Lieberman (Princeton, N.J.) of CMS with a 51.76.
Women's 800 Freestyle Relay: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was pushed in the first half of the race by Pomona-Pitzer, which put Alex Lincoln (the 200 free individual champion) in the first leg, but the Athenas team of Emma Jones (Eugene, Ore.), Ellie Smith (Boulder, Colo.), Maddie Crawford (Deephaven, Minn.) and Michele Kee (Diamond Bar, Calif.) pulled away in the second half for a win in 7:43.92. Redlands overtook Pomona-Pitzer for second place on the anchor leg 7:52.19 to 7:53.14.
Men's 800 Freestyle Relay: Redlands capped off its day with a relay win, as a tight race with CMS was broken open late. Clint Freeman (Brentwood, Calif.), Eric LoPrete (Beaverton, Ore.), Christopher Depew (Naperville, Ill.) and Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, Calif.) finished in 6:46.52 for an NCAA "B" cut, just shy of the meet record of 6:46.10. CMS finished in second in 6:51.88, while Pomona-Pitzer broke the 7-minute mark as well in 6:57.80.
Team scores after the second day are as follows:
Women
CMS 750
Redlands 421
Pomona-Pitzer 338
Occidental 271
Cal Lutheran 235
Whittier 218
Caltech 122
La Verne 102
Men
CMS 607
Redlands 567
Pomona-Pitzer 278
Cal Lutheran 267
La Verne 220
Whittier 208
Occidental 174
Caltech 116
The third day of the SCIAC Swimming Championships takes place tomorrow, with events including the 1650-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard races in the butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke, and the finale of the championships, the 400-yard freestyle relay.
