Seniors Swim at Taylor Pool For Final Time in Loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Jan. 24, 2009) – As the rain poured down upon all those present at Taylor Pool today, many of the senior Tigers reminisced to their freshman season when many meets were swum in the rain. Unfortunately for both the men’s and women’s squads, Occidental fell today to the Stags and Athena’s 202-69 and 175-106, respectively.
As she has done all season Celeste Faber led the Tigers into the meet with a pair of victories coming on the 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards. She scored 200.20 points on the lower board to defeat teammate Marisa Pulcrano who combined for a 188.10 on six dives. The duo again took the top two spots on the three-meter board where Faber scored 226.25 points while Pulcrano recorded a season high 196.15.
The only other victory of the meet on the women’s side came from Eliza Callwood who swam the 50 freestyle in a time of 25.92. Karie Nickle recorded a season best time in the same event with a time of 27.63.
For the men’s squad, Jeven Dovey and Abiel Garcia went 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke. While Dovey finished a second behind his seed time at 2:23.54, Garcia recorded a season best time of 2:28.29.
A number of swimmers recorded notable performances today despite the losses.
Erin Brinton lowered her 400 IM time by over 15 seconds, swimming in 4:45.14, which was good for third place. Eileen McMillan, who finished third, shaved off five seconds swimming the 200 backstroke in 2:24.33. Rebecca Hofer also improved in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:52.38, six seconds faster than her previous best.
Michael Wong finished third in the 200 butterfly as he swam more than a second and a half faster than he had done all season at 2:11.99. Cameron Carlson improved on his 200 backstroke time, clocking in at 2:14.97, four seconds faster than his previous best. Michael Wade took two seconds off his 500 freestyle time, finishing in 5:10.62. As a unit, the men’s 400 free relay team comprised of Ross Miner, Adam Kantor, Zach Condon and Sean Inoue took just over three seconds off their time, finishing in 3:27.75.
Today marked the final time that 16 Tigers would appear wearing black and orange at Taylor Pool. Among those student-athletes were Brinton, Callwood, Faber, Sarah Hunt, McMillan, Nancy Moore, Kayla Schott-Bresler, Elizabeth Shdo, Carlson, Garcia, Jack Hans, Inoue, Derek Monroe, Wade, John Wensman and Wong. Thank you for your commitment to Oxy aquatics over the last four years.
Occidental will travel to La Verne next weekend to face the Leopards, which also marks the final SCIAC dual meet of the season. Divers will compete at 10:30 a.m. before the swimmers take the blocks at 11:00 a.m.
