Futures Qualifier Henry Lyons to join Claremont Mckenna Colleges this fall (2024)

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Henry Lyons from Santa Fe, New Mexico will attend Claremont McKenna College starting this fall. Lyons, who swam club for Charger Aquatics and attended Santa Fe High School, is a distance free/IM specialist. 

I chose Claremont McKenna College for its amazing academics as well as its internship and career resources and for their awesome swim team! I am super thankful to Coach Griffiths for giving me the opportunity to join the Stags swim team. Go CMS!!

At the New Mexico State Championships in February, Lyons swam several personal bests en route to helping Sante Fe High School to a 5th place finish. He led off the 400 free relay in 48.36, placed 4th in the 500 free with a 4:38.76, and took 3rd in the 200 IM with a 1:53.33. He also swam the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay, splitting a 27.86 to help Santa Fe take 3rd in the relay. 

Lyons wrapped up his short course season at the New Mexico Swimming Short Course Championships, where he continued to set PBs. He swam a 22.53 in the 50 free for 7th, 1:44.19 in the 200 free for 2nd, 2:08.16 in the 200 breast for 5th, and 53.54 in the 100 fly for 5th. 

Best times:

• 200 IM – 1:53.33
• 400 IM – 4:03.42
• 200 free – 1:44.19
• 500 free – 4:38.76
• 1650 free – 16:19.94

The Claremont Mckenna Colleges, which are a co-op between Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps (CMS), competes as a DIII program in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). In 2024, the men won the conference title, scoring 964.5 points to beat out Pomona – Pitzer by just over 69 points. Frank Applebaum, a DIII NCAA Champion who recently transferred to Cal for his 5th year, led CMS with 3 individual wins. 

Lyons will look to help CMS defend their title, with times already fast enough to make scoring finals. At the 2024 SCIAC Champs, the cut off times to qualify for a finals swim was 1:54.12/4:22.75 in the 200/400 IM and 4:44.81 in the 500 free. Lyons’ bests would have placed 5th in the 400 IM and 8th in the timed final of the 1650 free, while his 200 IM and 500 free would have both qualified for the ‘B’ final. 

CA natives Kenny Eckel, Alex Davies, Benjamin Gallegos, and diver Liam Graham are all members of CMS’ incoming class. Lyons will join Lucas Williams (Oregon) as the only non-Californains in the class of 2028. 

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