CMS Women's Swimming and Diving Caps Opening Day of SCIACs with 800 Free Relay Record

LA MIRADA, Calif. - Augusta Lewis, Gracey Hiebert, Leila El Masri and Ella Blake earned a SCIAC title in league-record time in the 800-yard freestyle relay as the CMS women's swimming and diving team ended the first day of the SCIAC Championships down by just four points (213-209) in what is shaping up to be a tight battle with Pomona-Pitzer over the four-day event.

The 800-yard free relay team clocked a 7:31.11 to break the old record held by Pomona-Pitzer (7:32.59) by more than a second, while winning the race by a comfortable margin of 1.71 seconds over the Sagehens. The title was worth 44 points for the Athenas, compared to 38 for Pomona-Pitzer, as the CMS foursome was able to cut the lead from 10 points to four after the final event of the day. 

Lewis, the two-time SCIAC Swimmer of the Year in 2019 and 2020 in her first two seasons, got the Athenas off to a fantastic start in the 800 free realy with a split of 1:52.67, giving the Athenas a lead of just over two seconds. Blake then anchored with a stellar 1:50.98 split to bring home the win. 

CMS nearly had a sweep of the two relay events on opening day, but the 200-yard medley relay ended up with a second-place finish in 1:43.26 to just finish behind Pomona-Pitzer's 1:43.12 by a margin of .14.

Day two of the SCIAC swimming championships will get underway tomorrow with prelims taking place at 9 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m. The four-day event wraps up on Saturday, as the Athenas will try to defend their 2020 league championship.