Stags Complete Perfect SCIAC Regular Season with Wins over Occidental, Whittier
WHITTIER, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's swimming and diving team finished off a perfect 8-0 regular season in the SCIAC with wins over Occidental and Whittier in a tri-meet hosted by Whittier on Saturday afternoon.
The Stags, who are ranked No. 9 in the nation by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America, had a clean sweep of all 16 events on their way to the pair of dual wins, as they improve to 8-2 overall on the year, with the two losses coming to teams in transition to Division I (UC San Diego, California Baptist).
Sophomore Matthew Waddell picked up two individual wins by taking first place in the 1000 freestyle in 9:52.16, and then getting back in the pool to win the 200-yard butterfly in 1:53.84. First-year Alec Vercruysse also had two wins, taking the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.47 and adding a first-place finish in the 200 IM in 1:56.52. Junior Marco Conati won his top two strokes by sweeping both the 50 free (21.66) by one-tenth of a second, and then taking the 100 fly by almost two seconds in 51.17.
CMS started out the meet by finishing 1-2-3 in the 200-yard medley relay, with the "A" relay of first-year Anderson Breazeale, sophomore Walter Limm, Conati and junior Andreas Roeseler earning the win in 1:33.59.
After Waddell won the 1000, followed by teammates Joe Zales and Kyle Fendorf for a 1-2-3 finish, senior Ben Culberson took first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.09), followed by teammates Michael Lee and Alex Moody in second and third. Senior Dave Makhervaks easily won the 100 back by over three seconds in 52.22, and Vercruysse led another 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breast, followed by senior Henry Limm and sophomore Nick Tan.
Waddell's second win in the 200 fly was followed by first-years Thayer Breazeale and Will Zhou in second and third, and after Conati won the 50, Roeseler took first in the 100 free in 47.11, with Makhervaks right behind in second.
Anderson Breazeale had an individual win in the 200 back (1:58.08), taking first place by over one second, and Henry Limm and Walter Limm went 1-2 in the 200 breast, followed by senior Bradley Newton. Lee earned the 500 free (4:42.37) by just .41 over Culberson, with junior Kyrellos Ibrahim in third. The final 400-yard freestyle relay also saw CMS dominate with the top four finishers, as Conati, first-year Nathan Luis, Anderson Breazeale and Roeseler finished first.
Senior Kendall Hollimon also rolled to wins in both diving events as he begins his final stretch run after earning All-America honors four times in three years. He won the one-meter with 290.45 points and took the three-meter with 323.15 points.
The Stags will host the CMS Invitational next weekend in their final tune-up before the SCIAC Championships, with diving starting at 9 a.m. and swimming at 11 a.m. CMS will host the SCIAC Diving Championships on Feb. 15-16, with the swimming portion of SCIACs taking place in Commerce on Feb. 20-23.