Applebaum Breaks Meet IM Record, Griffith Wins One-Meter Dive on Day Two of SCIACs

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Frank Applebaum set a new SCIAC Championship meet record in the 200 IM with a time of 1:48.74, and Jack Griffith earned first place in the one-meter dive to highlight the performance of the CMS men's swimming and diving team on the second day of the league championships on Thursday at East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium.

After two days, CMS is in second place behind Pomona-Pitzer, with just 12 points separating the two teams, as the Stags will look to make a move tomorrow with more individual races being contested, including the first events in the butterfly and backstroke, where CMS hopes to pick up substantial points. 

Applebaum swam a 1:51.99 in prelims, which was the fourth-best time in the field, but he turned it up a notch in the finals to finish in 1:48.74, breaking the SCIAC Championship meet record held by AJ Nybo of Cal Lutheran (1:49.27). The overall top mark in league history was set by Gary Simon of CMS in 1998 to win the national title in 1:46.97, which is the oldest standing record in the league. 

Henrik Barck also qualified for the finals in the 200 IM and finished sixth, while Grant Stucky won the consolation heat to finish ninth. 

Lucas Lang and Anderson Breazeale earned All-SCIAC honors in the 500 free by coming in second and third, respectively. Lang finished in 4:28.98, but was denied to the chance to repeat as league champion by Larry Yu, who he edged by 1/3 of a second last season (Lang did win the 1650 as well and will have a chance to repeat in that event on Saturday). 

In the 50 free, Nick Tekieli earned All-SCIAC distinction with a second-place finish in 20.61, ending up .15 behind Cole Kershner of Chapman, who prevented Tekieli from winning his second straight title. Theo Johnson (fifth) and Dylan Krueger (eighth) also qualified for the finals. Jeremy Tan, Krueger, Johnson and Tekieli finished out the day's action by coming in a close second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:22.13, just .14 behind Pomona-Pitzer. 

Day three of the SCIAC Championships will get underway tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. with swimming prelims, while the men's three-meter dive prelims will take place in the afternoon.