Tigers provide strong showing in season opener
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2009) – It was the season home opener and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener today when the Occidental College swimming & diving teams hosted California Lutheran University at Taylor Pool. While the Tigers came up short to the Kingsmen, 70.5-139.5, the men’s team showed promise and earned a couple of first place finishes in the 26-event meet.
“For a team that has not had a chance to rest, we swam well today,” said first year head coach Alex Kuhn. “We certainly have room for improvement and I expect that as the season moves on I believe our times will drop significantly.”
Although Oxy started the day trailing after the diving events, due to having no competitors, they chipped away and put some points on the board with some top finishes.
Senior Adam Kantor anchored the Tigers opening relay, the 200 medley, in which he, Zachary Condon, Jeven Dovey and Miner Ross posted a time of 1:42.16 to out-touch CLU.
Kantor also won the 100 butterfly outright, but settled for a share of first in the 50 freestyle. After leading for the first 25 yards, and much of the second length, Kantor was caught by William Kennedy as the duo touched the wall at exactly the same time to tie for first place, in a time of 22.55. Ross placed fifth for the Tigers in the event, sprinting the 50 in a time of 23.24. Ross later swam the 100 free in 51.13, which ranked him third among the swimmers, while Joe Reynolds, who just completed the water polo season, placed fifth in 53 flat.
In the 100 fly Kantor posted a time of 54.22 while teammates Austen Oliver and freshman Riley Kimball finished in 1:01.79 and 1:03.13, respectively, to score for the Tigers.
Earlier in the meet Oliver, another cross over water polo player, finished second in the 1000 free with a time of 11:23.53 while Richard Dybas (12:37.84), a third water polo player, and sophomore Alex Budig (13:25.70) took the fourth and fifth spots.
Dovey also kicked off his final collegiate campaign on the right foot with a victory in the 100 breast stroke (1:04.60) after earning a second place finish in the 200 IM with a time of 1:09.32 earlier in the afternoon. Following the senior was freshman Stephen Ratkovich who came in third with a time of 2:13.88. Kimball scored fifth place points for Oxy touching the wall in 2:22/30.
Condon swam to a second place finish in the 100 back stroke with a time of 1:02.85 after finishing third in the 200 free (1:53.35). Budig placed fifth in both the 200 free (2:22.18) and the 100 back (1:11.90). Will Carlson completed the 100 back in 1:09.94 for fourth place and went on to swim the 200 breast in 1:10.15 for the same finish.
The second longest event today was the 500 free in which Ratkovich (5:38.34), Dybas (6:03.61) and Kimball (6:09.14) placed 3-4-5.
Occidental wrapped up the meet with a second place showing in the 200 free relay as Reynolds, Dybas, Oliver and Ratkovich combined to swim a 1:35.98.
The Tigers will be on the road tomorrow when they travel to the University of Redlands to take on the Bulldogs with diving set to begin at 10:30 a.m. followed by the swimming events at 11:00 a.m.
