With sweeps in each of the diving and relay events, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swimming and diving teams each registered wins over La Verne on Saturday afternoon at Axelrood Pool in the first meet since December. The Athenas defeated the Leopards 239-56 while the Stags registered a 219-75 win. Both the Athenas and Stags are now 3-0 in conference action so far this season. Current photo via CMS Athletics
CLAREMONT, Calif. – With sweeps in each of the diving and relay events, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swimming and diving teams each registered wins over La Verne on Saturday afternoon at Axelrood Pool in the first meet since December. The Athenas defeated the Leopards 239-56 while the Stags registered a 219-75 win. Both the Athenas and Stags are now 3-0 in conference action so far this season.
Overall, CMS took 29 of the 32 events with the men taking 15 events and the women earning wins in 14 events. Eight of the 29 events that CMS won came in relay and diving events.
The meet began with freshman diver Maia Presti winning the 1-meter diving event with a score of 222. The Athenas took three of the top four spots in 1-meter diving. Presti also took the win in the 3-meter dive as well with a score of 244.15. For the men, junior diver James Stevickwon both the 1 and 3-meter events.
In the first relay event of the afternoon, the Athena 200-yard medley relay team of senior Erin MacLean, senior Michele Kee, senior Annika Jessen and senior Helen Liu finished with a time of 1:50.06, nearly two seconds faster than the next team. CMS took the top four spots in the event. Later in the meet, the Athenas also won the 400-yard freestyle relay as Liu and Kee joined freshman Kelly Ngo and junior LillyBelle Deer to cruise to an 11 second win with a time of 3:38.93.
In addition to a pair of wins in relay events, Kee earned individual wins in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.48) and 100-yard freestyle (53.66) events. Ngo (50 free and 200 breaststroke) along with junior Molly Loftus (200 free and 500 free) each had two individual wins. Along with a pair of relay event wins, Liu also added a win in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.15.
On the men’s side, the Stags’ ‘B’ team of sophomore Joseph Hinton, sophomore Zach Alleva, sophomore Matthew Valentine and sophomore Alex Poltash won the 200 medley relay with a time 1:36.60. To close out the meet Poltash, Hinton, junior Cameron Whiting and junior Patrick Shultzwon the 400 free relay. Poltash added individual wins in the 50 free and the 100 butterfly as well.
La Verne’s wins came in the women’s 100-yard backstroke, men’s 100-yard breaststroke and women’s 200-yard backstroke.
The next events for CMS are the diving meet vs. Occidental on Thursday, Jan. 16 at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and a meet at Occidental on Saturday, Jan. 18, both at 11 a.m.
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