SWIMMING & DIVING
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Beaver Swimming & Diving Wrap 2008-09 Season
Last weekend the Caltech Swim Team finished off their season with a strong showing at the Long Beach Belmont Plaza Natatorium. The historic, fast swimming complex was build for the 1968 Olympic Swimming Trials and this was the first time the SCIAC conference used it for their Championship.
The Caltech Swim Team finished strong at the SCIAC Championship with the help of the freshmen class. Justin Johnson has been leading the way all year with solid performances on both high and low springboards. He capped off his first year of competition by winning the 1m board and placing second on the 3m in a field of 17 divers at the conference championship. His scores improved his chances of going the NCAA Championship held in Minnesota later this term. Another freshman, Peter Buhler, has been battling a sore lower back all season. "We were nursing his lower back injury and he was starting to swim strong but re-injured it while at home during Christmas break" stated coach Clinton Dodd. The training staff and coaching staff worked hard to get Peter back into racing form and just before the Championship he put in a solid 2:07.94 in the 200 backstroke during the Chapman Dual Meet. At the SCIAC Championship he dropped 8 seconds to get into the finals and dropped another 0.5 of a second to place fifth with a time of 1:59.12 in that event. Swimming the 100 back, he blasted off to a lifetime best 54.31 and got into the finals. He then dropped more time to get an outstanding third place finish in 54.02 and "All SCIAC" honors. Janis Intoy worked hard all year and dropped a whopping 20 seconds in one of the toughest races, the 400 IM. She improved her time and standing to place 16th in that event. In the 200 yard breaststroke race she again lowered her lifetime best time to an impressive 2:44.36 but just missed the cut to get into the evening finals.
Other divers that scored some points at the Championships were Senior Ryan Lanman, 10th on 1m and 3m while Stacey Levina who grabbed a 17th on 1m. Sophomores Peggy Allen and Erin Zapaglione both made it into the 3m diving final and did well placing 5th and 8th respectively. Also diving newbie's Jess Swallow and Richard Gianforte placed in the top 16th and did extremely well under the direction of diving coach Ute Zimmerman. The four relays for the men and the four relays for the women all swam well and secured valuable points to place both teams in seventh place. The women finished ahead of Whittier College and men took care of the University of La Verne. The men actually placed in a tie for sixth place because of a conference dual meet victory over Cal Lutheran earlier in the season.
GO TECH!!!
