CMS Remains Undefeated In SCIAC

CMS Remains Undefeated In SCIAC

The CMS Stag and Athena swimming and diving teams traveled to Thousand Oaks on Saturday to square off with California Lutheran University in SCIAC action.  The Stags topped the Kingsmen 159-64 and the Athenas beat the Regals 141-81.

The Stags won 11 of 12 events contested in the men's meet, with nine different Stags earning individual golds.  CMS's first-year class continues to impress, with five frosh finding the top of the podium.  Devin Nishizaki won the 200 yard freestyle, Patrick Shultz sprinted to first in the 50 free, Marc Blumberg posted a quick 52.27 in the 100 fly and Alex Mendoza paced to victory in the 500 free. James Stevick, fresh off an NCAA consideration score on the 3-meter board last week, won the high-board by nearly 50 points.

The Stag junior class picked up the remaining wins. Sean Smith posted a season-best time in the 1000 free, as did Devin Bowers in the 100 free and Jordan Lieberman in the 100 backstroke. Brad Perfect may have notched the swim of the day, clocking in at 59.44 in the 100 yard breaststroke, another non-championship-meet personal record.  The Stags earned one-two finishes in both the 200 yard medley relay and 200 yard freestyle relay.

"Brad looked great today," commented Coach Charlie Griffiths. "His quick split in the 200 medley relay helped our B-relay upset our A-relay by .14 seconds and then he came up huge in a tight 100 breaststroke race.  The Stags were ready to go and had a productive day."

The Athenas won 8 of 12 events, keyed by Michele Kee's victories in the 200 yard freestyle and 100 butterfly. One-two sweeps in both relays earned big points for the Athenas.  CMS also won the sprints, with senior Emma Jones taking the 50 free and frosh Ali Fisher winning the 100 free from lane 1.  Sophomore Helen Liu won the 100 back and junior Carmen Lundell placed first in the 1-meter diving competition. Heavy Santa Ana winds prevented the divers from completing their second board. "Cal Lu did a nice job taking the longer races from us and the 100 breast was about as exciting as it gets," Coach Griffiths said. "Our relay depth helped us quite a bit today. With three weeks to go until SCIACs, we're ready to fine-tune our races and get fired up for the championship meet season."

Both CMS squads now stand at 6-0 in the league. CMS concludes its dual meet season Saturday, February 4 with a home meet versus the University of Redlands Bulldogs.  Diving is slated to begin at 10:00, with senior recognition at 10:55 and swimming at 11:00.