Athenas End in Second Place at 2024 SCIAC Swim and Dive Championship

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Annika Sharma won the 200 back and Katy Shaw repeated as the champion in the 1650-yard freestyle, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's swimming and diving team finished in second place at the 2024 SCIAC Championship on Sunday at East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium.

CMS finished the meet with 910 points, well ahead of third-place Chapman with 411, but Pomona-Pitzer was able to break into four figures with 1024 points to take the team title. 

The Athenas were down 40 points after three days, and got off to a good start in the 1650 on Sunday, with Shaw winning in 17:07.58 to defend her league title, with Corley Smith also earning her way onto the podium by coming in third. Revere Schmidt was fifth and Alex Towers eighth as the Athenas picked up 61 points in the evening session to close the gap on the Sagehens, who had 32 points. 

Sharma then made it back-to-back wins for CMS with a 2:04.62 in the 200 back to win by almost two seconds over Alanna Baker of Pomona-Pitzer. Sammy Ennis added a fourth-place finish in 2:08.36, but the Sagehens were able to put four swimmers in the final to increase their lead slightly.

The 100 free, though, saw Pomona-Pitzer earn the top four finishers and six of the top eight to effectively salt away the team competition. CMS had a strong showing in the 200-yard breaststroke, where Allyson Yao and Mackenzie Mayfield earned All-SCIAC honors by coming second and third, with Kelly Prawira fourth and Caroline Sundal sixth.

Sun Young Byun (fourth) and Allison Nguyen (eighth) reached the final of the 200 fly, and the meet ended with Pomona-Pitzer breaking the SCIAC meet record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. 

CMS will next await word of national qualifiers, where they will hope to send a strong contingent of swimmers. The Athena divers will be in action this weekend for regional qualifiers.