Sophomore Ava Sealander came in second in the 100 fly as one of the top finishers for the Athenas
Sophomore Ava Sealander came in second in the 100 fly as one of the top finishers for the Athenas
Posted: Oct 26, 2019

CMS Women's Swimming and Diving Opens 2019-20 Season at UC San Diego

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's swimming and diving team took on UC San Diego, one of the nation's top Division II programs which is in transition to Division I, and showed some promise for the 2019-20 season with some strong times on Saturday afternoon in its first meet of the year.

The Tritons won the dual by a final score of 188-102 and by a combined 369-215 in the men's and women's scoring, as the Stags were defeated 181-112. 

Sophomore Augusta Lewis, the reigning SCIAC Swimmer of the Year, got her second season off to a strong start by coming in second in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:23.33, and then coming in fourth in the 400 IM in a time of 4:35.11 (followed by fellow sophomore Natalie Larsen in fifth).

Lewis also added a third-place finish in the 200 fly (2:10.02), followed by first-year Annie Johnson in fourth with a 2:11.04. Sophomore Ava Sealander swam a strong race in the 100 fly, coming in second in 58.08, and in the 50 free, coming in fourth in 24.53

First-years Ella Blake and Emily Warner finished in third and fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle with times of 1:56.75 and 1:57.04, while junior Natalia Orbach-Mandel finished the 100 free in 53.95, good for fourth. Blake added a second-place finish in the 500 free (5:13.14), followed by first-year Gracey Hiebert and sophomore Leila El Masri in third and fourth.

Junior transfer Christina Campbell was the top finisher for the Athenas in the 200 back in 2:12.51 to come in third place, followed by senior Liv Baker in fourth and Larsen in fifth. Senior Jacque Desmond was third in the three-meter dive (221.47 points).

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Warner, El Masri, first-year Aly Gallagher and sophomore Laura Dickinson finished off the meet with a 3:40.67 to earn 11 points. 

CMS will have two weeks off before returning to dual competition with its SCIAC opener at Caltech on Nov. 9. The Stags will then host a tri-meet with Chapman and Cal Lutheran on Nov. 16 at 10 a.m.