THOUSAND OAKS- The University of La Verne men's and women's swimming and diving squads won 11 events Saturday in a SCIAC battle with Cal Lutheran University and Redlands University.
But a win for the men against Cal Lutheran and 27 Season Best times by both the men and women still weren't quite enough to take down Redlands - the perennial SCIAC power.
A great team effort saw the men and women up their game and battle down to the last swimmer, evidenced by opening first event wins by both the women and men of the 200 Medley Relays.
The women's 1000 freestyle was the example of what was to come. Summer Harp of Redlands took the win but she was chased down by a succession of Leopards starting with freshman Jessie Watkins who saw a 20 second improvement in her season best, then freshman Laney Poe who finished 3rd less than a second off her season best, followed by sophomore Chelsea Dean who took 16 seconds off her season best.
Maddie Lovrensky, Jackie Rojas and Sammi Shiomoto also found domination in their specialties. Lovrensky continued her undefeated SCIAC tradition winning the 100 (1:09.24) and 200 backstroke winning in 1:00.81 and 2:13.37 respectively. Rojas made a name for herself winning both the 100 and 200 (2:33.81) breaststroke; and Shiomoto won the 200 butterfly in a time only just off her season best (2:16.24).
On the men's side, senior Coleman Goode had a Hallmark meet. After leading the winning 200 Medley Relay (1:54.41) with Marc Okimura, Devon Photias and Daniel Carpenter, Goode won the 200 freestyle in a season best 1:47.27. He later chased down Redlands' All-American and National Champion Jeff Depew in the 200 Backstroke and 200 Individual Medley, only being out touched in the individual medley by a slight .65 seconds.
Senior Marc Okimura also contributed two individual wins to the men's effort, finishing first in the 100-yard (1:00.00) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.29), while leading a Leopard assault in the 100 fly. Redlands Brent Reed snuck in for the win but Okimura was a close second with junior Photias and Felipe Avandano Villa right behind for the third and fourth.
Both Redlands meet scores for the men and women went to the Bulldogs with 151-132 and 190-104 respectively, while the Leopards men outdueled the Kingmen of Cal Lutheran, 161-121. The women's results against Cal Lutheran are incomplete at this time.
Both teams take on Chapman University next Saturday January 25th at 11:00am for Senior Day at the La Verne Aquatic Center.
