CMS Women's Swimming and Diving Moves to 5-0 in SCIAC with 244-45 Win at La Verne

LA VERNE, Calif. - One day after battling Division I California Baptist down to the final relay, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's swimming and diving team returned to SCIAC action with a convincing 244-45 win over La Verne on Saturday at Las Flores Park.

With the win, the No. 11 Athenas improve to 5-2 overall in dual meets, including 5-0 in the SCIAC, with the only two defeats coming to programs in transition to Division (UC San Diego and CBU). 

The meet started with the Athenas finishing 1-2-3 in the 200-medley relay, as the "A" team of first-year Jameson Mitchum (backstroke), Suzanne Starzyk (breaststroke), Stephanie Lewis (butterfly) and Natalia Orbach-Mandel (freestyle) finished in 1:50.90 to take first place. 

In the first individual event, CMS went 1-2-3 in the 1000-yard freestyle, as first-years Annie Johnson and Arisa Cowe were the first two to touch the wall in 11:03.69 and 11:09.79, respectively, followed by sophomore Leila El Masri. The 200-yard freestyle followed, as the Athenas again went 1-2-3, with first-year Ella Blake breaking 2:00 in 1:58.24, followed by junior Janet Tran and first-year Emily Warner. 

The Athenas took the backstroke events, as Mitchum, who did not compete in the fall while nursing an injury, took the 100 in 1:00.98 and Lewis earned the 200 in 2:17.62. Sophomore Rachel Wander was the first-place finisher in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.20 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:29.56, followed by first-year Caroline Sundal in 1:11.13 in the 100 and Starzyk in 2:33.54 in the 200. 

In the butterfly, sophomore Augusta Lewis edged out junior Allie Umemoto in the 100, 59.66 to 59.99 in a close race, while junior Christina Campbell edged Umemoto in the 200 2:14.02 to 2:17.05. Orbach-Mandel (25.05) finished ahead of Starzyk and Blake in a 1-2-3 race in the 50 free, while Campbell (5:18.50) edged sophomore Natalie Larsen in the 500 by just under one second, 5:18.50 to 5:19.32. In the 200 IM, sophomore Ava Sealander was the first to the wall in 2:12.89, edging Larsen by a half-second, 2:12.89 to 2:13.24. 

First-year Makenna Parkinson swept the diving events for the Athenas with 219.45 points in the three-meter and 214.00 points in the one-meter. The final 200-yard freestyle relay also went to CMS in a tight battle between teammates, as Warner, Augusta Lewis, Stpehanie Lewis, and Tran touched the wall in 1:41.38, edging Mitchum, Starzyk, junior Laura Dickinson and Orbach-Mandel by .23. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it returns home to face Redlands for another SCIAC meet, with diving getting underway at 10 a.m., followed by swimming at 11 a.m.