Panthers debut second in opening invite

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University men's and women's swim teams earned second place at the Bay Area Invite hosted by Mills College on Saturday. The women's team earned 407 points and the men's team earned a total of 473 points in the Panthers first competition of the season.

On the men's side freshman Chase Mitchell earned a pair of first place finishes in his rookie debut. Mitchell led the men in the 200 fly with a final time of 1:59.28, and led the men's 500 free with a final time of 4:58.06, a full five seconds faster than his closest competition.

In the 100 free freshman Richard Parnell out-swam the competition to finish second with a final time of 49.50. Parnell also finished fourth in the 100 fly to pace the Panthers with a final time of 54.88.

Sophomore Quinn Gates finished second in the men's 50 free with a final time of 22.05. The sophomore was also just .08 seconds off a career-best in the in 100 free with a final mark of 50.78.   

Returning CU record holder, sophomore Connor Broughton led the Panthers in the 400 IM with a final mark of 4:21.07 to earn second place. The sophomore was just six seconds off a CU record he set in his rookie season.

On the women's side, the Panthers strongest race was the 50 free as Chapman finished in three of the top-five spots with less than a second gap between the swimmers. Freshman Saranna Quach tied for second with a team-best time 25.39. Sophomore Kristina Fong earned fourth with a final time of 25.54 and freshman Molly Davis finished fifth with a final time of 25.75.

Fong improved to a third place finish in the 100 free earning a time of 55.86. Davis also earned her first third place finish in her rookie meet, finishing the 100 fly with a final time of 1:01.30.

Sophomore Kami Szabados and freshman Kelly Livingston led the Panthers in the 200 breast. Szabados completed the race second with a final time of 2:02.82, while Livingston finished behind her in third with a final time of 2:08.49.

Chapman also finished with three of the top-five finishers in the 500 free with less than a two second gap for the top swimmers. Junior Mary Welton finished with a final time of 5:27.23, edging the competition with her fastest length of 30.07 seconds. Freshman Sabrina Evanson finished fourth, less than a second behind Welton at 5:28.66. Following Evanson, freshman Teresa Gerhold earned a final mark 5:29.06 to round out the Panthers top-five.

The Panthers will travel to Claremont on Saturday, Oct. 29 for the Pomona-Pitzer Relays beginning at 2 p.m.

by Raquel Rinauro
Sports Information Assistant

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