Tough Start to 2013 for Regals

CLU drops two at tri-meet

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Kelli Miller swam the breaststroke, IM and both relays for the Regals against Chapman and Redlands.

Photo: Tracy Maple

REDLANDS, Calif. – The 2013 portion of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule did not start how the Regals would have liked as Cal Lutheran fell to both Redlands (149-91) and Chapman (125-111) at a tri-meet hosted by the Bulldogs today.

On a day when the Violet and Gold were edged, Mimi Harbach provided a spark with a trio of individual victories while teammate Katie Kochalko also earned a first place finish in the pool and diver Sheyenne Machida was the one-meter champion.

Harbach proved to be the strongest distance swimmer of the day as she handedly won the 1000 freestyle with a time of 11:12.11, nearly 30 seconds ahead of teammate Juliana Rios (11:42.21) who came in second, before swimming the 500 free in 5:22.85, winning by 13 seconds. She also earned the top spot in the 200 free (2:01.80).

On the one-meter board, Machida posted a 222.05 as the only diver to break the 200-point plateau as she won by more than 65 points. Her score placed her first in CLU history for a six-dive, one-meter set. She struggled on her second dive of the six-round three-meter event but finished third with a 157.00 behind a pair of Chapman divers.

The 200 Individual Medley went to Kochalko by a second and a half in a time of 2:17.79. In the 100 butterfly she hit the wall in 1:02.82 for second and went on to finish fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.73).

Kelli Miller swam a 1:12.73 100 breast for third, just 65 hundredths of a second off the second place pace. Miller also placed fourth in the 200 IM with a 2:22.57.

Sprinting for CLU, Taylor Faust went a 26.80 in the 50 freestyle, followed by Alvina Wong (27.64) and Mary Wakabayashi (27.94) for sixth and eighth, respectively.

Karissa Winkler swam to fifth in both the 200 free (2:04.97) and 100 free (57.73) and was sixth in the 500 free with a 5:40.17. Faust was stroke for stroke in the 100 free, posting a 58.67 sixth place finish.

Another CLU duo who swam hand in hand today was Stephanie Yu and Brooke Hubbard, going 1:09.30 and 1:09.71, respectively, in the 100 backstroke.  

The meet opened with the 200 Medley Relay in which Yu, Miller, Wakabayashi and Wongcombined to swim a 2:02.70 for third. Competition closed out with another third place swim in the 200 Free Relay as Wong, Hubbard, Rios and Faust joined forces for a time of 1:46.86, 21 hundredths of a second away from a second place finish.

Cal Lutheran (1-2) will be back in the pool Saturday, Jan. 12 when the Regals host the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Results: UR 149, CLU 91
Results: CU 125, CLU 111
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