Kingsmen Split at SCIAC Tri-Meet

REDLANDS, Calif. – A day after kicking off the 2013 portion of the swimming and diving schedule the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen earned a split at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tri-meet hosted by Redlands. While CLU fell to the Bulldogs, 124.16-106.83 they dominated Chapman, winning by a 182-33 margin.

Cal Lutheran concluded the meet with a 200 Freestyle Relay victory behind a 1:29.51 performance from Kyle Eckhart, Chase Miller, Conrad Sheffer and Tyler Berg from the ‘A’ team. The Redlands ‘A’ team was second in a time of 1:32.28 ahead of the CLU ‘B’ squad of Mike Potter, Philip Anderson, Zach Kaija and Aaron Waters who combined for a 1:37.94 finish.

Earlier in the meet Sheffer won a pair of events, hauling in first place points in both the 200 Individual Medley (2:00.68) and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.21). Kaija placed third and fourth in those races, respectively, with times of 2:08.95 and 1:04.46.

On the one-meter board Andrew Kirk was victorious, posting a score of 149.25, and placed third on the three-meter board with a six-dive total of 127.10.

A rarity in swimming, the Kingsmen saw a pair of first place ties unfold today. Miller earned a three-way tie for first in the 100 freestyle, touching the wall simultaneously with Nelson Glendinning (UR) and Clint Freeman (UR) in 50.18. Tyler Berg also finished knotted, swimming the 50 free in 22.44 to tie Matt Zaggy (UR).

Miller went on to place second in the 200 free (1:53.77) while David Sparks placed fifth in the 50 free (23.56) behind teammate Eckhart (22.78). In his first meet for CLU, Sparkswas third in the 100 free in 51.25 with Bergjust three tenths of a second back in fourth at 51.28.

Jake Hutton finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.90, four tenths of a second ahead of Derrick Graham who placed third for CLU. Mason Hill was just off that pace in 58.79 for fifth.

Another second place finish today went to Waters who completed the 100 breast in 56.75, less than a second off the winning time. Anderson placed fourth in 1:00.79 in the event.

The distance events saw Anthony Nguyen (10:56.38) and Graham(11:03.50) finish second and third in the 1000 freestyle before flipping places in the 500 free with Graham hitting the wall second in 5:14.60 followed by Nguyen in 5:16.44.

The opening relay was paced by the two Bulldogs teams with the Kingsmen ‘A’ team of  Waters, Nguyen,Hilland Eckhart touching the wall third in 1:44.50.

Cal Lutheran (1-2) will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the Samuelson Aquatics Center.

Results: UR 124.16, CLU 106.83
Results: CLU 182, CU 33
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