There was no question about who was going to win the 2011 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships hosted by Occidental College at the Belmont Olympic Plaza. Although four different schools earned victories in five individual events, it was Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who extended their consecutive win-streak to eight years while producing the Swimmer of the Year in freshman Michelle Kee.
CMS combined for 1072.5 points leaving everyone else battling for second. In the end it was the University of Redlands who took second with 695. Occidental posted their best finish in years, with 459.5 points, edging out Pomona-Pitzer who put up 407.5. Whittier College placed fifth with 265.5 closely followed by Cal Lutheran University (244). Rounding out the Championships were the University of La Verne (161) and Caltech (146).
1650 Freestyle
Whittier’s Erin Bartholomew broke her own school record while hitting an NCAA “B” cut with a swim of 17:22.83, winning by more than six seconds. Four hundred yards in Bartholomew led by two seconds and by the 500 yards she had a three second cushion. By the 1000 yard point she Poets’ sophomore led by over six seconds and stretched her advantage to as much as 10 seconds. Current SCIAC record holder Carliann Brashier was second in 17:29.60. Finishing third today was Whitney Dawson in 17:44.16.
200 Backstroke
After a strong morning swim, the Athenas’ swept the top three spots this evening. Tessa Dover, broke her own Meet Record with a swim of 2:03.07 while meeting an NCAA “A” cut. Jenni Rinker and Elsa Cheng swam side-by-side as they have all season day in and day out finishing in 2:05.56 and 2:06.41, which were both NCAA “B” cuts. Also swimming under the national time was Redlands sophomore Caitlin Michaels who placed fourth in 2:06.93.
100 Freestyle
Michelle Kee added to her hardware from the weekend, re-writing the record books once again. Not only did she set a new Meet Record, by two hundredths of a second, going a 51.77, which was also an NCAA “B” cut, she broke the CMS school record as well. Junior teammate Emma Jones, the previous owner of the CMS record, swam alongside her teammate to finish second in 52.59, also a “B” cut. SCIAC and former Meet Record holder, Alexandra Bollella hit the wall right behind in 52.81.
200 Breaststroke
Returning to the top of the podium for the second time in as many nights, freshman Caroline Chang broke the Oxy record by four seconds, winning the second title of her career in 2:21.81. Chang along with UR’s McKenzie Nakamura, who swam a 2:23.50, earned NCAA “B” cuts. Representing the third spot, and school, on the award stand was CMS’s Ching Tung who went a 2:25.87.
200 Butterfly
The final individual event of the weekend was another exciting one with two swimmers earning NCAA “A” cuts. Lauren Zehner defended her title, swimming a 2:05.66 for Redlands. Two school records went down as CMS freshman Annika Jessen swam a 2:06.64, punching a ticket to Nationals, and Mallory Ryan took three seconds off her Occidental record, going a 2:08.83.
400 Freestyle Relay
Jenni Rinker led off a relay for CMS that broke a school, SCIAC and Meet Record while earning a trip to Nationals with an “A” cut. Following Rinker were Helen Liu and Emma Jones before Michelle Kee solidified the victory and locked down the records in 3:27.43 to win by six seconds. The Bulldogs’ quartet of Kathryn McIntosh, Casey Sripamong, Alexandra Bollella and Lauren Zehner, coming right off her 200 fly victory, swam a 3:33.35 for second. Pomona-Pitzer earned the third spot on the podium as Alex Lincoln, Morgan Ingemanson, Charolette Dohrn and Kristen Lindbergh went a 3:35.74.
With a little help from their opposition, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags’ earned their fourth Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title at the 2011 event hosted by Occidental College at the Belmont Olympic Plaza. CMS earned two individual victories as well as the 400 Free Relay with the University of Redlands taking home two individual titles, placing second, with the Male Athlete of the Year, Tyler Harp, honored following the meet.
CMS combined for 921 points, outscoring UR (739) by almost two hundred points. Third place went to Pomona-Pitzer (479) with Cal Lutheran University (401) finishing fourth. Rounding out the field were Whittier College (272), the University of La Verne (271.5), Occidental College (217) and Caltech (181.5)
1650 Freestyle
Alexander Alders not only lapped his opposition, finishing almost 30 seconds ahead of second place, but his 15:53.39 crushed the SCIAC and Meet Records while breaking his own UR record. Patrick Wall locked up second place with a swim of 16:22.43 ahead of third place finisher J.P. Cumming (16:32.08) who had some competition to get to the podium, edging CLU’s Jake Kaija who went a 16:33.77.
200 Backstroke
The top three finishers each reached an NCAA “B” cut today as the same trio who wen to the podium in 2010 returned to their respective spots tonight. SCIAC and Meet Record holder Max Scholten (PP) got out to a lead in the first 50 yards before Nick Ostreim (CMS) took over the lead for the next 125 yards. Scholten pulled his way back into the lead in the final length of the pool to regain his title with a 1:50.45. Just 14 hundredths of a second back, in 1:50.59, was Ostreim. The third place finisher was Blake Weber from CMS with a 1:52.79.
100 Freestyle
Earning an NCAA “B” cut and swimming just off his SCIAC and Meet Record time Redlands’ junior Tyler Harp went a 45.42, taking the lead in the second length and maintaining it throughout to earn another SCIAC title. In a battle for second Chris Evans (WC) got off to a slightly quicker start than Devin Bowers (CMS), but in the last 25 yards the Stag pulled ahead for a second place, 46.10 finish ahead of Evans’ time of 46.48.
200 Breaststroke
The only question entering the final was whether or not Vincent Pai would swim under 2:00. Opening up a two second lead at the 100, which he went out in 57.43, Pai doubled his advantage in the next 50 yards and cruised into the wall in a Meet Record time of 2:00.37. The junior from CMS not only earned an NCAA “A” cut, but he was two seconds under that time to regain his title from 2009. Pai’s teammate Brad Perfect led the rest of the pack, as he and a pair of freshman, Marc Okimura (ULV) and Conrad Sheffer (CLU), duked it out for third. Swimming nearly in sync for the final 75 yards, Perfect and Okimura would make it to the podium in times of 2:06.45 and 2:06.67, respectively. Sheffer would be a touch behind in 2:06.83.
200 Butterfly
Breaking the Meet Record was not only one, but two, swimmers, who each earned NCAA “B” cuts as well. Entering as the top seed, Jordan Lieberman (CMS) took two seconds off his morning swim to earn the SCIAC title in 1:51.94, just three hundredths of a second ahead of UR’s Christopher Depew who led through the first 125 yards of the race before Lieberman hit the wall two hundredths of a second quicker at the 150 turn. Another pair of swimmers met NCAA “B” cuts in the race, with David Oryton and Brendan Huss going a 1:52.91 and a 1:53.00, respectively. Oryton occupied the final spot on the awards stand with the swim.
400 Freestyle Relay
As expected the teams were loud and supportive of their teams before, during and after the final event of the three-day meet. CMS never trailed with Devin Bowers leading off, followed by Austin Hallet who pulled the Stags to a second lead before Blake Weber added another second to the advantage with Sean Fitzgerald wrapping up the win for the Stags who went a combined 3:03.89, reaching an NCAA “B” cut. Next in line was UR behind Matthew Zaggy, Collin Gladys, Christopher Depew and Tyler Harp who swam a 3:05.94. Pomona-Pitzer was the third team into the wall in a time of 3:08.29 with Joe LaBriola, Andrew Kinimaka, Chris Wright and Mac Scholten swimming for the Sagehens.