Swimmers, Divers Set for SCIAC Championships

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2009) – They jumped in the pool to compete for the first time back in October. This weekend the Occidental College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will complete their regular seasons at the three-day 2009 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships hosted at the Belmont Plaza Pool for the first time after being held at the Cerritos Aquatics Center for a number of years.

A SCIAC Champion will be determined by the accumulation of dual meet and championship meet points. Currently the Tiger women are ranked fourth behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Pomona-Pitzer and the University of Redlands while the men are currently in fifth behind CMS, UR, PP and Whittier College.

Entering the meet there are a couple of Tiger women who are ranked first in the conference, including diver Celeste Faber who won the preliminary round of diving on both the one and three meter boards. She currently has a high score of 242.40 in the 1-meter event and is also the top diver on the 3-meter board (236.05).

Also diving for the Tigers is Marisa Pulcrano who will compete on both boards as well, after qualifying second to Faber a week ago at the Preliminaries in El Monte.

On the swimming side of things the women’s 200 Medley Relay earned the top seed with a time of 1:45.48, which is five seconds ahead of the CMS team.

Other swimmers among the Top-12 in the conference entering the meet are Erin Brinton, Mallory Ryan, Eliza Callwood and Karie Nickle.

Brinton, a senior team captain, is fifth in the 400 Individual Medley (4:50.14) and eighth in both the 500 free (5:27.87) and 1650 free (18:47.80).

Ryan, a freshman Tiger, is fifth in the 100 butterfly (1:00.76), ninth in the 200 butterfly (2:19.52) and twelfth in the 200 IM (2:20.01).

Callwood, another senior, is currently fourth in the 50 free with a time of 25.40, seventh in the 100 backstroke (1:02.75) and eleventh in the 100 free (56.29).

For the men’s team Matt Harter holds the highest seed of all the Tigers in the second spot of the 100 butterfly, two seconds off the leader’s pace. He is also currently ranked tenth in the 200 fly with a time of 2:09.68. Harter, who has been bothered by a shoulder injury will test himself at his first SCIAC Championships.

Senior Jeven Dovey is also highly ranked in a couple of events, including fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.81) and the 200 breast (sixth – 2:22.54). In the 200 IM Dovey (2:06.96) and freshman teammate Zach Condon (2:07.12) will compete as the twelfth and thirteenth seeds. Condon is also currently tenth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.01 and twelfth in the 200 back (2:08.17).

All season long Michael Wade and Michael Wong have trained side-by-side and battled in race after race. At the SCIAC Championships they will again swim stroke for stroke as the eighth and tenth seeds, respectively, in the 1650 with times of 17:58.95 and 18:09.34. They are also among the top swimmers in the 500 free with times of 5:06.84 and 5:10.62, respectively, as the ninth and thirteenth ranked men. Wong, a senior captain, will also swim the 400 IM as the ninth seed (4:36.76).

Another swimmers to watch will be Adam Kantor who looks to make a push into the Top-8 in the 50 freestyle (thirteenth at 22.69), 100 free (twelfth at 49.39) and 200 free (eighteenth at 1:52.44).

As a team the men look to compete in the 200 Medley Relay, in which they are currently ranked third with a time of 1:41.65, just 1.39 seconds off the pace established by CMS (followed by PP).

For a complete listing of competitors click here for the Psych Sheets for both the men and women.  Heat Sheets will be posted the day of the event. Information will also be available through the SCIAC website each day.