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.