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Female swimmers set on the blocks before the race begins.
Photo by Larry Newman

Women take third, men seventh at SCIAC Championships

COMMERCE, Calif. – The SCIAC Championships ended on Sunday with the Chapman University swimming & diving teams setting two new records and equaling their best team finishes. The women's team took third while the men finished seventh.

The Chapman women fought off a surging Occidental team for third place behind SCIAC champion and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer. The fight between Oxy and Chapman came down to the final race to see who would finish third.

The Chapman "B" team for the 400 free relay took third in the consolation final while Oxy's team took fourth to give Chapman a four-point lead. Oxy took third in the championship final but Chapman came in less than a second later in fourth to finish the meet with 490 points – two ahead of Occidental.

The men's team took seventh overall with 257 points, tying the Panthers' best team finish at the SCIAC Championships. Junior William Crewe set another school record to once again lead the Panthers. He swam a 1:50.58 in the 200 back and finished fourth in the event.

Freshman Michael Garza followed Crewe with another school record in the 200 breast. His morning preliminary time of 2:11.13 set the Chapman record and he went on to finish 15th.

In the 200 fly, the Panthers placed four swimmers in the consolation final. Sophomore Omar Insignares led the quartet with a 1:55.19 to finish 13th. Sophomore William Cho took 16th, senior Chase Mitchell followed in 17th and freshman Michael Jung came in 18th.

The women's team was led by a seventh-place finish by freshman Riley Brownfield in the 1650 free. Brownfield swam an 18:00.89 in the timed final to lead four Panthers scoring in the event.

 Senior Ally Haase won the consolation final  in 200 fly to take 10th overall with a 2:10.79. Another senior Molly Davis turned in a solid 53.01 in the 100 free to end her career with a 12th-place finish.

Both the 100 free and 200 fly had three Panthers qualify for the consolation finals. Freshman Charlene Chai followed Haase in 13th and senior Olivia Halbert took 16th. Sophomore Kealani Tanizaki-Hudson took 15th in the 100 free with senior Natalie Neffner following in 17th.

Junior Carina Laukaitis and freshman Hannah Parulan took 14th and 15th, respectively, in the 200 back. Sophomore Avery Tamusaitis' 2:29.79 placed her 12th in the 200 breast with junior Annie Brennan following in 17th.

The Panthers season concluded at the SCIAC Championships with five school records broken, one women's All-SCIAC performance and the first male SCIAC champion in Chapman's history.