CMS opens at UCSD

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stag and Athena swimming and diving squads opened the 2014-15 campaign at UCSD on Saturday, Oct. 25. The Athenas fell to the NCAA Division II Tritons 183-110, while the Stags were out scored 183-112.

CMS earned victories in six events on the day. Four of those wins came in the diving competition. Senior All American James Stevick won both men's diving events with Zone qualifying scores. The 2014 SCIAC Athlete of the Year scored 309.50 on the 1-meter board and set a personal best of 355.42 to win the six dive 3-meter competition. For the Athenas, sophomore Maia Presti took the 1-meter event, edging past the 200 point barrier with a score of 200.10. Fellow sophomore Carli Lessard led the 3-meter field, scoring 198.60 on the high board.

"The skills of our diving squad will play a large role in the success of our team this year," said head coach, Charlie Griffiths. "There is a fun synergy with the group and you can see the divers feeding off of each others' improvements in practice everyday."

In the swimming races, the Stags received a boost from sophomore Matt Williams, who dominated the 100 yard backstroke. Williams's time of 51.29 was nearly three seconds ahead of second place. The Athena's came through in a much tighter race with Kelly Ngo topping the 50 yard freestyle event by .01 seconds in a quick 24.45.

"We've been itching to race and today's competition was excellent for us. We had several nice individual swims and even though we were unable to touch the wall first, all four of our relay events produced stellar early season times," Griffiths said. "We're looking forward to a productive week of practice and more fun racing next weekend."

CMS will be back in action next Saturday at the PP Relays. Competition is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.