CMS Men's Swim and Dive Opens SCIAC with Sweep of Chapman and Whittier

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's swimming and diving team began defense of its SCIAC title by taking two wins in a tri-meet, defeating Chapman 194-106 and Whittier 247-43 on Saturday at Axelrood Pool.

Spencer Merodio (1000 free, 100 free) and Henrik Barck (200 fly, 400 IM) each won two individual events for CMS, which won 11 events total on the day (out of 18).

Chapman began the day winning both diving events (CMS junior All-SCIAC divers Cyrus Gaylord and Jack Griffith are both studying abroad in the fall) but CMS was able to earn the win in the first swimming event by taking the 200-yard medley relay in 1:33.04. Jeremy Tan, Evan Deedy, Frank Applebaum and Matthew Shield were the four swimmers that combined on the first win for the Stags. 

Merodio then gave CMS the win in the first individual swimming event, winning a very close 1000-yard freestyle race over Thomas Langlois of Whittier by less than a second, 9:49.07 to 9:49.66, with Cole Sumino coming in third. Merodio would later add a second win in the 100-yard freestyle in 47.66.

Anderson Breazeale edged out Applebaum and Grant Stucky in another close battle in the 100 back, although this one between teammates, as Breazeale finished in 51.87, Applebaum in 51.90 and Stucky in 51.92 as the three Stags were separated by just five-hundredths of a second. Applebaum and Stucky both earned their own close wins later in the meet, though.

Applebaum, the defending national champion in the 200-yard butterfly, also swam the 200 back and this time managed to get the upper hand on his teammates, winning in 1:56.13, just .19 ahead of Korin Aldam-Tajima in second, with Dylan Krueger taking third. Stucky, meanwhile, won the 200-yard breaststroke by just eight-hundredths of a second over James Galligan of Chapman, 2:10.91 to 2:10.99. 

Breazeale then had a close defeat to a teammate in the 500 free, as Lucas Lang edged him out by one-tenth of a second, 4:41.46 to 4:41.56 as CMS continued to have tight intra-squad battles. Deedy led a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 57.83, followed by Steven Tran and Merodio in second and third. The 200-yard butterfly was also a 1-2-3 for the Stags with Barck taking first in 1:55.32, just ahead of Adam VanLuvanee in second with a 1:55.62 and Drew Schmidt in third with a 1:57.70. 

Barck gave CMS its final win of the day in the 400 IM, finishing in 4:07.97 to lead another 1-2-3 Stag performance, with VanLuvanee in second and Tran in third. 

CMS will be back in action next Saturday when it takes on Caltech in a dual meet at Axelrood Pool, starting at 10:30 a.m.