Swimmers and divers prepared for SCIAC Championships

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University men's and women's swimming and diving teams are all set to compete at the SCIAC Swimming and Diving Championships which begin on Sunday and run through Tuesday at Splash! La Mirada Aquatics Center. This is the first year in Chapman history the Panthers have competed at the SCIAC championships.

Several Panther swimmers have legitimate shots at competing for conference titles in individual and relay events. And a handful more will be eyeballing Chapman school records.

Among those to watch for Chapman will be junior Julie Case who last year was named Division III Swimmer of the Meet at the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference championships in this very pool. Case, who missed the first half of the season while studying abroad, has returned and is seeded seventh in the 500-yard freestyle on Sunday and fifth in the 1650-yard freestyle on Tuesday. Her season-best time of 19:02.62 in the 1650 currently ranks 11th in the conference this year.

Another favorite for the Panthers is senior Samantha McLaughlin who is seeded in the top-20 in the SCIAC in three events, including her best event on Monday: the 100-yard breaststroke. McLaughlin, swimming for the final time in her collegiate career is seeded sixth entering the event with a season-best time of 1:09.79. She is 12th in the 200-yard breaststroke along with teammate sophomore Alex Carubis who is seeded 13th in the Tuesday race.

Carubis is another Chapman swimmer with high hopes as she is already the Chapman record holder in the 200-yard back and breaststroke events. The sophomore is also the Panthers' best shot in the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys on Sunday and Monday.

Senior Amanda Morris is coming off of her career-best effort in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:03.12 against La Verne last month. She will have to wait until Monday to race in that event, in which she will be seeded 10th. Morris also ranks 12th in the SCIAC in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:15.27.

For the Chapman men, all eyes will be on Hayden Boal in their first championship event ever as an NCAA Division III program. The senior currently ranks in the conference's top-10 in the 200- and the 1650-yard freestyles and will swim those events on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Also, as announced earlier this week, three Chapman women's divers qualified for the conference finals after competing at the preliminaries last weekend. Senior Kiernan Gilbert will compete in both the 3-meter and 1-meter events after placing fourth in both at the prelims. Freshman Jamie Ralph and sophomore Darcy Hardwick will join Gilbert in the 3-meter on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Preliminary races will begin at 9 a.m. on each day of competition with the finals taking place at 4 p.m. on all three days. Live video from all of the championship events can be seen here: http://takeitlive.tv/liveswim/?page_id=2791

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

SCIAC Championships Website: http://www.goredlands.com/sports/swimdive/2012-13/general_SCIAC_Swim_Champs

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