The University of Redlands swimming & diving teams got off to a solid start at the opening day of the 2016 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships, which are being held at the SPLASH! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center. With two relays and the men's three-meter diving finals taking place, the Bulldog women collected 97 points for second place, while the Redlands men garnered 114 points to land fourth, just one point behind third-place Cal Lutheran University.
The men's 200 Medley Relay of junior Will Tyrrell (Portland, OR), freshman Zack Amendola (Palos Heights, IL), freshman Lucas Ulmer (Camas, WA), and freshman Aaron Bauer (Garden Grove, CA) unleashed a time of 1:33.48 for fourth place to kick off Thursday's action. The quartet finished just .25 off of making the podium in an exciting finish.
Redlands also gained valuable points in the event's "B" final, with freshman Joe Widuch (Naperville, IL), sophomore Harlan Long (Orland Park, IL), junior Eric Bugna (Vancouver, WA), and senior Patrick Fink (San Pedro, CA) taking second with a time of 1:34.81.
The women's 200 Medley Relay of freshman Kate Canfield (Naperville, IL), junior Jessica Rivers (Renton, WA), junior Ellie Jaques (Covina, CA), and senior Lauren Robeznieks (Tigard, OR) kept up the momentum for the Bulldogs by uncorking a silver-medal, school-record time of 1:46.51 in the "A" final. As a result of their top-three showing, they collect the Bulldogs' first All-SCIAC nods of the meet. Redlands' "B" team of sophomore Rachel Haney (Redmond, OR), sophomore Claire Stuhr (Portland, OR), freshman Courtney Schmidt (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA), and sophomore Olivia Rock (Boulder, CO) also shined with a third-place performance of 1:51.47.
The swimmers enjoyed a break in the action to allow for the men's three-meter final competition. After this morning's preliminaries, junior Miko Mallari (Palo Alto, CA) put together an 11-dive score of 318.00 for fifth place.
Next, the Bulldogs' 800 Free Relay of Amendola, sophomore Brian Wright (Kent, WA), Bugna, and Tyrrell combined efforts for a fourth-place time of 6:53.77. The quartet of Long, Ulmer, freshman Jack Ivey (Albuquerque, NM), and Fink posted a time of 6:59.93 for third place in the "B" final.
Redlands' women provided similar results in their final race of the first day of competition, as sophomore Emily Waddell (Bellevue, WA), Robeznieks, Rivers, and Jaques joined forces for a fourth-place time of 7:49.38. Amazingly, the relay of junior Cassidy Cramton (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), sophomore Linnae Rodriguez (Hollister, CA), senior Kaitlin Kehoe (San Marcos, CA), and Rock touched the wall at exactly the same time as Occidental College, tying for fourth with a time of 8:15.43 in the "B" final.
The Bulldogs continue the excitement of the SCIAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Friday, February 19, in La Mirada. The preliminaries of the 500 Free, 200 Individual Medley, 50 Free, and men's one-meter diving take place in the morning, followed by the finals of these swimming events, along with the 200 Free Relay, and the women's one-meter competition.
