SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SCIAC) – MEN AND WOMEN
- Dates: Thursday, February 20-Sunday, February 23, 2020
- Location: Brenda Villa Aquatic Center – Commerce, CA
- Host: Cal Lutheran
- Diving: February 15-16, hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
- Defending Champion: Pomona-Pitzer women (2x); Pomona-Pitzer men (2x)
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
Courtesy: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The 2020 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Swimming Championships continued Friday, February 21 at the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center in Commerce, Calif. with the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley, the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Following day two action on the men’s side, Pomona-Pitzer leads the nine-team field with 464 points, followed by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in second with 416 points and Redlands in third with 263 points. California Lutheran is fourth (253), Occidental fifth (150), Caltech sixth (136), Chapman seventh (127), Whittier eighth (112) and La Verne ninth (80).
On the women’s side, CMS pushed out to a 10-point lead with 471 points, while Pomona-Pitzer is second with 461, and Chapman in third with 252. Occidental is fourth with 199, Redlands is fifth with 178, Whittier is sixth with 158, Cal Lutheran is seventh with 116, La Verne is eighth with 112 and Caltech is ninth with 104.
The men’s 500-yard freestyle featured a one-two finish from Pomona-Pitzer as Paddy Baylis clocked a winning time of 4:26.79 to win the event, while teammate Will Abele placed second in a time of 4:27.51. Cal Lutheran’s Ben Brewer was third with a mark of 4:28.59.
The women’s 500-yard freestyle saw CMS clinch all three top spots as Ella Blake touched first in a time of 5:00.22, followed by Athenas’ teammates Gracie Hiebert (5:01.99) and Leila El Masri (5:02.52).
AJ Nybo of Cal Lutheran broke his own meet record in the men’s 200-yard IM as he powered to a top time of 1:49.27, while the Sagehens’ Liam O’Shea and Jason Lu finished second and third with respective times of 1:49.28 and 1:50.19.
Both the meet and SCIAC record fell in the women’s 200-yard IM as the Athenas’ Augusta Lewis bested her previous top mark in the event with a time of 2:02.41. Pomona-Pitzer followed in second and third as Haley Kirtland (2:06.15) and Abby Smith (2:06.46) earned silver and bronze respectively.
The men’s 50-yard freestyle saw Pomona-Pitzer’s Anzo DeGiulio power to a top finish of 20.71 in the race, while Redlands’ Jack McCormick and the Stags’ Andreas Roeseler added second and third place marks of 20.85 and 20.93.
The women’s 50-yard freestyle featured a winning performance from Hannah Zurmuhl who posted a top time of 23.43 just ahead of Whittier’s Brooke Geske who turned in a second-place time of 23.44. In third was CMS’s Ava Sealander (23.46).
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Pomona-Pitzer tandem of DeGiulio, Lukas Menkhoff, Tag Curwen and Nick Borowsky powered to a top time of 1:22.10, while CMS’s combination of Roeseler, Will Grassle, Nathan Luis and Marco Conati placed second with a time of 1:22.22.
Friday’s final event was the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay which saw the Sagehens’ quartet of Zurmuhl, Kate Denend, Jen Lenertz and Kirtland glide to first with a time of 1:33.87. The Athenas followed in second with a time of 1:34.07 orchestrated by Sealander, Suzanne Starzyk, Janet Tran, and Natalia Orbach-Mandel. Whittier came in third behind the foursome of Lexi Mauldin, Grace Arnsparger, Esther Choe and Geske who registered a time of 1:37.99.
Day three begins Saturday, February 22 with preliminaries of the 400-yard IM, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke, and the 100-yard backstroke set for 9 a.m. at the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center.
Let’s go STAGTHENAS!!!!