CMS excels at Redlands Pentathlon

Seven of the nine SCIAC teams, plus Biola University, converged on the University of Redlands on Saturday for the annual Bulldog Pentathlon. The swimming competition called for each competitor to compete in the 100 yard butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 100 freestyle and 100 yard individual medley. When final times were added up, the CMS Athenas produced five of the top ten finishers, while the Stags tallied five of the top eleven.

Senior Michele Kee led the way for the Athenas. Kee finished as the women's top overall finisher with a composite time of 5:05.19. Powered by individual event victories in the 100 butterfly (58.05), the 100 free (54.05) and 100 IM (1:00.37), Kee out-distanced Biola's Christine Trixier by 1.7 seconds in total.

Sophomore Matt Valentine earned the top overall finish for the Stags, placing fourth in 4:38.09, a mere 0.30 seconds ahead of teammate Marc Blumberg. In the five individual races, the Stags produced two event winners. Matt Williams won the 100 backstroke in a listed time of 52.00 and then Alex Poltash led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 free for the Stags, clocking in at 46.98.

Other top three finishers in individual events for CMS included Annika Jessen (100 fly), Marc Blumberg (100 fly), Erin MacLean (100 back), Kelly Ngo (100 back), Kee (100 breast), Joey Hinton (100 free), Williams (100 free) and Ngo (100 IM).

Head Coach, Charlie Griffiths said, "We saw a lot of fast swims today. In the previous seven years we've attended the Pentathlon, a total of three Athenas had broken a minute in the 100 butterfly. Today we had four under a minute. For the Stags, I was happy to see eight guys under 50 seconds in the 100 free on their fourth event of the day." Griffiths continued, "There's so much talent and depth in the SCIAC, a meet like this provides incentive for us to keep working hard and smart toward our bigger championship meet goals."

While the Pentathlon was a swimming-only event, the CMS divers will compete at Redlands on Saturday, November 16 at the Bulldog Diving Invite. Similar to the Pentathlon environment, most SCIAC teams will attend, along with a few non-conference opponents. Competition is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m.

The CMS swimmers will enjoy its annual Alumni Meet this Saturday, with warm-ups at 12:30 and the meet scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. The meet will precede CMS's "Wall of Fame" recognition of 2013 graduates Jordan Lieberman, Carmen Lundell, Emily Ott and Blake Weber and then the CMS Athletic Hall of Fame induction of multi-time NCAA D-III National Champion Nick Bagatelos (CMC 1986).