Jocelyn Crawford Breaks Own School Record to Highlight First Day of Pomona-Pitzer Meet

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior Jocelyn Crawford broke her own school record in the 50-yard freestyle with a 23.29, and swam the first leg of a 200-yard freestyle relay that broke an Axelrood Pool record, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's swimming and diving team took a 60-46 lead after the first day of a two-day dual meet with Pomona-Pitzer on Friday afternoon.

The Athenas won five of the six events on the day, coming in first place in four of the five swimming races, while senior Jacque Desmond finished in first place in the one-meter diving competition. Pomona-Pitzer finished first in the 400-yard medley relay to start the swimming events, but the Athenas bounced back to win the next four in a row to take a 14-point lead heading into tomorrow, which will feature 13 events (12 swimming, and the three-meter diving). 

Crawford edged out her old school record in the 50-yard freestyle of 23.34, which she set last year, winning the race by a healthy margin over Maidson Kauahi of Pomona-Pitzer (24.01). Crawford's time was also well under the NCAA "B" cut of 23.75 and ahead of the 23.61 cut-off for NCAA qualification a year ago. 

After dropping the initial relay, the Athenas bounced back with a first-place finish from freshman Leila El Masri in the 500, who touched the wall in 5:09.07 to edge out Kristen Mortimer of Pomona-Pitzer (5:10.23). Sophomore Mia Syme, who holds the school record in the 500, came in third (5:10.54) in her first swim in four weeks after being out with an injury. 

The 200 IM then saw CMS go 1-2 as it surged into the lead. Freshman Augusta Lewis, who had three individual wins last week in a narrow 149-141 win over Occidental, kept her impressive rookie season going with a 2:06.29 to set a new pool record and move into third place in CMS history. Her time also just slipped under the NCAA "B" cut of 2:06.56 (last year's cut-off was a 2:06.19). Fellow freshman Natalie Larsen was second with a 2:10.58. 

After Crawford's win in the 50, she was the next one in the pool for the Athenas when she swam the first leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, giving CMS the lead with a split of 23.51. Freshman Laurel Krovitz, sophomore Allie Umemoto and freshman Ava Sealander maintained the lead the rest of the way, capping off the first day of the meet with a 1:35.16, another "B" cut and another pool record, breaking a mark which had held for 14 years since Carleton set it in 2004. 

The final relay win also extended the CMS lead up to 14 points, which it will take into tomorrow's second day, which begins with the three-meter dive at 10:30 a.m. The swimming will then get underway at 12 noon with the 200-yard medley relay followed by the 400 IM.