REDLANDS- The University of La Verne swimming team competed at the Bulldog Pentathlon hosted by Redlands University Saturday.
The top five teams in SCIAC competed in a format with every swimmer entered in four initial events (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle). Based on the cumulative time of the individual strokes the swimmers then race an individual medley to earn the championship. Over 250 competitors, including 153 women and 106 men, competed for the individual title.
In the 100 butterfly, the Leopard men saw nine under 57 seconds and in the top 30 led by senior captain Marc Okimura, senior Coleman Goode, juniors Jarrett Peterson and Devon Photias, sophomore Felipe Avendano Vela, and freshmen Joshua Huang and Zeph Handley. On the women's side junior captain Maddie Lavrensky, senior Sammi Shimotoa and freshman Krisyln Cha all cracked the top 30
The second event saw Leopard Lovrensky maintain her conference stranglehold on the backstroke, winning her first ever pentathlon event in an impressive 59.46. Goode came back to finish eighth (55.92) to lead men.
In the 100 breaststroke Okimura capped a four-year streak by winning in 58.95. Goode hung in for a top-10 finish with a 1:01.61. Freshmen Harry Bennet and Handley along with senior Mike Rashed all finished in the top 30. Lovrensky, junior Jackie Rojas and Cha all finished well for the women.
The final single-stroke event for the day, the 100 freestyle, saw freshman Daniel Carpenter record a personal-best 48.75 to finish fourth. Lavrensky finshied seventh with Sammi Shiomoto taking 14th for the women. Okimura, Peterson, and Photias finished well for the men.
Lovrensky led the way in the 100 medley, finishing 3rd overall, the highest recorded finish for a Leopard swimmer. Okimura and Goode both made the final for the men to take sixth and seventh respectively. Peterson and Cha also finished in the top-30 in the respective competitions.
The Leopards will return to action next Saturday at the Bulldog Diving Invitational. The meet is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.
