Podium finish for High Tops, two school records for Low Tops on day one

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – The Chapman University swim & dive teams opened the SCIAC Championships with a school record and a podium finish. McKenzie Abbott also scored the Panthers' first points as a finalist on the 3-meter board.

Abbott placed seventh with a 357.60 on the 3-meter diving board – a new personal-best score. Gracie-Ann Fraunfelder also had a personal-best with a 301.95 and placed 12th.

Jake Randazzo continued the streak of personal-best scores as he ended the 1-meter preliminary round in second place with a 476.80. Reid Omilian and Mohamed El-Askary also qualified for tomorrow's finals, giving Chapman three of the eight spots in the finals.

The first night of swimming at the championships saw the nine SCIAC teams compete in the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay. The high tops' 200 medley relay had the swim of the night with an All-SCIAC finish. Ashlyn Walters, Ryanne Doherty, Kiana Tanizaki-Hudson and Meghan Kluck combined for a 1:47.55 to just beat the team from Cal Lutheran to the wall and claim third place.

The low tops missed the podium by less than a second but took fifth and set a new school record with a 1:32.98. Bryce Grover, Simon Jacobs, Jason Kim and Cole Kershner teamed up for the Panthers' record-setting relay. Kershner anchored the relay with the fastest split of the night, and of his career. His 50 free clocked in a 19.78. Jacobs' 50 breast split was also the fastest in school history.

In the 800 free relay, the low tops set another school record with a 7:00.57. Jason Kim, Zach Waddell, Joseph LaFontaine and Brandon Leung placed sixth in the event with the record-breaking time. Waddell also swam the fastest 200 free relay split in scholl history as part of the record-breaking effort. The high tops top relay team was disqualified but the B team took 12th.

Both teams ended the day in sixth place in the team standings with plenty of events to go. Tomorrow the men's 1-meter diving finals will take place along with the women's 3-meter preliminary round. The swimmers will compete in the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 200 free relay.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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