HOME OF BULLDOG SWIMMING & DIVING - 11 SCIAC Championships

The University of Redlands swimming & diving teams split with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Saturday morning in Claremont. The women lost, 104-139, while the men prevailed, 124-119.

Freshman Allie Bollella (Palo Alto, CA) paced the Bulldog women, supplying two first-place finishes and a swift relay anchor leg. Bollella topped the 50 freestyle field with a time of 24.72 before taking first in the 500 freestyle (5:22.08) later on in the meet. In the 400 freestyle relay, Bollella nearly caught Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ “A” relay, anchoring the Maroon and Gray’s “A” squad with a 52.60.

The 200 individual medley featured a barnburner of a race as sophomore McKenzie Nakamura (Kenmore, WA) and freshman Lauren Craig (Newcastle, CA) battled the Athenas’ Amy Tresenrider. Craig led after the butterfly leg, splitting a 28.92. Tresenrider split a 33.16 backstroke and gained the lead at the halfway point. Craig passed Tresenrider after the breaststroke leg, with Nakamura following closely behind. Nakamura, the defending conference champion in the event, clocked a 31.21 coming home and touched out Tresenrider and Craig by a hair (2:15.25). Tresenrider settled for second (2:15.34) while Craig took third (2:15.45).

Zehner spearheaded a 1-2 Bulldog finish in the 200 butterfly, tapping in with a time of 2:11.12. In addition, her second-place 200 freestyle time (1:55.70) cleared the NCAA “B” standard.

Other second-place finishes came from junior Michelle Camburn (Sunnyvale, CA) in the 1650 freestyle (18:31.35), senior Melanie Loo (Waipahu, HI) in the 200 butterfly (2:11.93), freshman Jessica Medvec (Tualatin, OR) in the 100 freestyle (54.01) and sophomore Jenny Bates (Littleton, CO) in the 500 freestyle (5:24.74).

The Bulldog men edged the Stags in a thriller that came down to the final event.

Sophomore Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA) ignited the team’s success, claiming two individual events and swimming the anchor leg on the meet-winning 400 freestyle relay squad. Harp smashed the competition in the 200 freestyle, clocking an NCAA “B” qualifying standard of 1:41.76. After the break, he led a Maroon and Gray sweep of the 200 butterfly, checking in with a first-place standard of 1:57.80. His split of 45.65 on the first-place 400 freestyle relay team sealed the Bulldogs’ victory.

The 50 freestyle featured a 1-2 Redlands finish, which junior Miran Terzic (Mostar, Bosna i Hercegovina) headed with a 21.60.

A strong back half allowed sophomore Collin Gladys (Yorba Linda, CA) to clock the gold standard in the 200 individual medley (1:57.06). Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Austin Hallett, who finished second, led heading into the final 50, but Gladys’ 27.59 freestyle split proved to be the difference.

Senior Ryan Floersch (San Jose, CA) captured the 100 freestyle, muscling through the four-lap sprint in 47.45.

Avenging a second-place showing in the 1650 freestyle, junior Alec Alders (Los Angeles, CA) eked out the Stags’ Brent Kersten in the 500 freestyle, winning by less than a second with a time of 4:48.20.

The final event of the morning, the 400 freestyle relay, proved vital to the meet’s outcome. R. Floersch gave the Bulldogs a one-second lead after the first leg, clocking a 47.10. Senior John Floersch (San Jose, CA) maintained the advantage with a 47.79, but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Andrew Cosentino broke out a 47.17 to narrow the gap. Freshman Matt Zaggy (University City, MO) split a 48.00 and kept a .15 second lead over the Stags. Harp erased any doubts of the race’s final result, posting an anchor split of 45.65 to give Redlands the win. The contingent’s total time was 3:08.54. The Stags’ “A” relay sustained a disqualification, however, giving the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps “B” squad the second-place finish.

Other strong individual performances came from Alders in the 1650 freestyle (16:50.49), R. Floersch in the 200 freestyle (1:46.86), J. Floersch in the 50 freestyle (21.79), freshman Chris Depew (Naperville, IL) in the 200 butterfly (2:00.81) and Gladys in the 200 breaststroke (2:11.72).

Redlands (6-2, 6-1 SCIAC; 7-1, 7-0 SCIAC) starts its final push toward the conference championship meet in the upcoming weeks. The Bulldog divers will compete at the SCIAC Diving Prelims Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13-14, at the Thompson Aquatic Center. Competition begins at 11 a.m. on both days. The SCIAC Championships are set for Sunday, Feb. 21, through Tuesday, Feb. 23 at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach. Prelims start at 9 a.m. while finals are slated to commence at 4 p.m.