Oxy swimmers pull past Pioneers

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Jan. 11, 2010) – Coming off a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the University of La Verne the Occidental College men’s swim team went on to defeat the visiting Lewis & Clark Pioneers 105-81 in non-conference action at Taylor Pool his afternoon.

The Tigers started strong with a 200 free relay victory behind a 1:42.00 finish from Stephen Ratkovich, Jeven Dovey, Miner Ross and Adam Kantor as they lowered their season best time.

An early spark saw Oxy then claim first place finishes in the next six events with Zach Condon winning both the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. While he won the 200 free by more than two seconds, he was the only swimmer to post a time sub-one-minute in the 100 back, clocking in at 59.47, shaving a second off his previous season best.

Kantor (22.71) and Ratkovich (23.07) went 1-2 in the 50 free before repeating the feat in the 100 free as they finished in 50.89 and 51.05, respectively. Ross was under a minute in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall in 58.46, followed by teammate Riley Kimball (1:00.92) to take the top two spots.

Dovey went on to win the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:09.90 to round out the first place finishes.

Austen Oliver was second in the 500 free (5:26.15) while Dovey and Will Carlson placed second and third, respectively, in the 100 breast with finishes of 1:05.52 and 1:09.55.

In the final race of the afternoon, Oxy was second in the 200 free relay as Carlson, Kimball, Oliver and Condon finished in 1:36.02.

Occidental gets back in the water on Saturday when the Whittier College Poets come to Eagle Rock to compete with the Tigers in SCIAC action beginning at 11:00 a.m. in Taylor Pool.