MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — Brandon Pon won the men's 1650 yard freestyle and the La Verne men's swimming and diving team capped off the 2016 Collegiate Winter Invitational with a win in the 400 freestyle relay on Sunday at East Los Angeles College.
Pon, who took the bronze in the 1650 in the last year's SCIAC Championshps as a freshman, got off to a fast start and posted four sub-30 second 50-yard splits in his last three hundred yards for a wire-to-wire victory. He swam an incredible 26.96 in his last 50 yards.
The men's 400 freestyle team of Timothy Polman, Joey Sabers, CJ Woodward and Daniel Carpenter ended the three-day meet on a high note as it went 3:11.44 for the win.
Polman, who has emerged as a top sprinter to complement Carpenter, took second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.49. Carpenter came in third at 46.90.
Harry Bennett notched a pair of top-3 finishes. He finished third in the 100 individual medley with a time of 55.65 and came in second in the 200 breaststroke (2:09.91).
Woodward and Tyler Bennett went 4-5 in the 200 backstroke. Woodward posted a time of 2:04.79 and Bennett touched at 2:05.77.
Rachel Fox was the top NCAA Division III finisher in the 200 breaststroke on the women's side. The sophomore placed fifth overall with a time of 2:30.84. Miranda Chavez was 11th in the event (2:33.17) and Isabelle Cheng placed 16th (2:43.05).
Mary Hanna won the consolation final of the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:11.98.
Krislyn Cha placed 12th in the 100 IM with a time of 1:05.10 and Kayla Yip was 14th at 1:05.52.
The men finished third overall as a team with 602 total points behind Concordia (Calif.) (869) and Pomona-Pitzer (651). The women finished sixth with a total of 211 points.
The Leopards will take an extended break and return to action in 2017 when it travels to Redlands for a multi-dual against the Bulldogs and Occidental on Jan. 7.