Ava Sealander was part of two meet records, the 100 fly and the 400 medley relay

Posted: Feb 22, 2020

Sealander, Lewis Set Meet Records as CMS Women's Swimming and Diving Extends Lead on Day Three of SCIACs

COMMERCE, Calif. - Sophomore Augusta Lewis broke her own SCIAC meet record in the 400 IM. sophomore Ava Sealander set a new SCIAC record in the 100-yard butterfly, and first-year Ella Blake won her second freestyle championship in as many days, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's swimming and diving team extended its lead to 58 points (831-773) after the third day of the SCIAC Swimming Championships on Saturday at the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center.

Lewis, who broke her own meet record in the 200 IM yesterday, made it an IM sweep with dominant performance in the 400 IM on Saturday, winning in 4:20.98, a gap of almost 12 seconds over her own teammate, sophomore Natalie Larsen, who came in second place in 4:32.80 to earn 19 points for the Athenas. First-year Lexi Lee was also sixth in the IM finals to add 15 more points, to give CMS 56 from its three finalists.

Sealander made it another meet record for the Athenas in the 100 fly, taking the finals in 55.38 seconds, a personal best and maintaining her No. 2 position on the all-time CMS list behind record holder Katie Bilotti (54.93). First-year Jameson Mitchum came in fourth, junior Janet Tran was fifth and junior Stephanie Lewis was eighth for the Athenas, who had four of the nine finalists.

One day after winning the 500 free on Friday, Blake returned to the pool on Saturday and earned a final time of 1:52.30, winning by .23 over Haley Kirtland of Pomona-Pitzer and moving into second place in CMS history behind Sarah Heine (1:51.89 in 2006). Junior Natalia Orbach-Mandel earned All-SCIAC honors as well with a third-place finish in 1:52.61, as CMS had six of the nine finalists to pick up a huge number of points in the event. Junior Christina Campbell was fourth, junior Allie Umemoto and first-year Gracey Hiebert tied for sixth, and sophomore Leila El Masri was ninth in a finals race that had only three non-Athenas in it as CMS totaled 84 points from the event.

Sophomore Rachel Wander earned All-SCIAC honors in the 100 breast after nearly earning a first-place finish in a tight three-way race. Julia Hagenbaumer was first in 1:04.04, with Wander just .15 behind in 1:04.19 and just .04 ahead of Alexandra Gill of Pomona-Pitzer, moving her up to fifth in CMS history. First-year Suzanne Starzyk earned a fourth-place finish as well for CMS.

Mitchum had a big swim in the 100 back to earn All-SCIAC honors in her first postseason competition, touching the wall in 56.31 to earn the fifth-best time in program history. Mitchum then led a 400-yard medley relay team that established another meet record to cap off the day, along with Lewis, Sealander and Orbach-Mandel, who finished in 3:45.87 for the second-best time in CMS history.

The Athenas will look to hold on to their lead tomorrow on the final day of SCIAC competition, which will feature the 1650, as well as individual championships in the 200 back, 200 breast, 200 fly and 100 free, with the 400-yard freestyle relay capping off the SCIAC Championship on Sunday night.