In a battle of SCIAC unbeaten teams, the Stag swimmers and
divers lost a tight battle to Redlands on Saturday, February 6 by a
count of 124 to 119.
The meet came down to the final event, after day full of
eye-popping performances. The CMS divers staked an early lead for
the Stags, posting 1-2-3 performances on both boards. Junior
Garrett Smith won the 3-meter event and freshman Andrew Fevery won
the 1-meter springboard.
The 400 medley relay kept the momentum up for CMS. The Stag relay
of Nick Ostreim, Vincent Pai, Austin Hallett and Ryan Kristensen
popped off a CMS Axelrood Pool record of 3:31.68. The Stags also
picked up critical third place points as Devin Bowers brought home
the CMS “B” relay .37 ahead of the Redlands
“B” relay.
Brant Kersten expanded CMS’s lead, coming through with a
huge swim in the men’s mile. Kersten posted a pool record in
the 1650 with a time of 16:35.02, topping former Stag Derek
Wolfgruber’s mark of 16:37.91 set in December 1999. Kersten
won the event by over 15 seconds.
Redlands counter-punched by taking the next five events, despite
some stellar CMS performances. Redlands’ Tyler Harp dropped a
pool record 1:41.76 in the 200 free. After the Stags dropped the
200 and 50 free, the 200 IM proved to be an exciting race.
Sophomores Austin Hallett and Vincent Pai hit the wall in 1:57.70
and 1:58.90, respectively, but it was not enough to beat Redlands
newcomer Collin Gladys. Redlands then won the 200 butterfly and 100
free before the Stags got off the mat with a 1-2 finish by Ostreim
and Blake Weber in the 200 backstroke.
The 500 freestyle provided another epic battle, as Kersten’s
season best time of 4:48.89 was .69 off the winning performance by
Redlands’ Alec Alders. The Stags Vincent Pai put CMS back in
the lead with a pool record and NCAA B-cut 2:06.62 in the 200
breaststroke. With the meet in the balance, Redlands put up a pool
record performance in the 400 yard freestyle relay finishing with a
time of 3:08.54.
With SCIAC dual meets concluded, CMS returns to action for the
SCIAC Diving Prelims next Saturday and Sunday at the University of
Redlands, followed by the SCIAC Swimming and Diving Finals at
Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, February 21-23.