LOS ANGELES – With SCIAC rivals Cal Lutheran University, University of Redlands and the host Occidental College all competing, Caltech dominated the two-day Occidental Invite and came away with a commanding team victory while posting numerous program top-10 times.
The Beavers quickly racked up points in the 400 Yard Medley Relay as the "A" team of
Simon Hu, Jason Lin, PIerre Zeineddin and
Leo Yang won the event with a 3:22.12 finish, followed by the Beavers' "B" group of
Naci Keskin, Evan Zhang, Andrew Pasco and
Lucas Abounader, who finished in 3:25.70. And then in fourth place was the "C" squad of
Chris Pukszta, Wentao Zhang, Max Oberg and
Eric Oh, earning 30 points for the team as the Beavers claimed 104 points in that event alone.
Mixing up the orders for the 200-yard version, Keskin, Lin, Zeineddin and Oberg picked up the program's fifth-best time, winning the event in 1:33.71, followed by the quartet of
Siddhartha Ojha,
Evan Zhang, Pasco and Abounader, who claimed second place and the No. 10 spot in the Caltech record books.
Caltech crushed the competition in the 100 Yard Butterfly event, claiming the top three places as Zeineddin won in 49.42, followed by Ojha in 50.85 for second and Oberg in 51.11 for third. Chen and Abounader also scored for the Beavers in fifth and seventh, and the team racked up 79 points in the event.
Zeineddin picked up two more wins, taking first in the 200 Fly and the 200 IM events, rounding out a five-win weekend for the sophomore.
Yang claimed first place in the 400 IM and his 4:06.09 time stands as the third-fastest in Beavers history. Pasco claimed second in the event with a 4:11.07 finish.
Other big wins came from Lin in the 100 and 200 Yard Breaststroke events, Keskin winning the 200 Free, and the Free Relays. Yang, Abounader, Pukszta and Oberg won the 200 Free Relay in 1:23.29, followed by
Evan Zhang,
Sam Small, Hu and Keskin claiming second. And finally in the 400 Free Relay, Caltech posted two top-10 times as Hu, Ojha,
Evan Zhang and Abounader won the event in a program fourth-best 3:06.24.
"This meet serves as an important mid-season test and with five school records between the men's and women's teams, some strong
NCAA cuts and all-time top-10 performances, I'd say we definitely passed," Head Coach Andy Brabson said. "We will look to continue building the positive momentum into the second half of our season.
Brabson and the Beavers will return to action after the holiday break, hosting Whittier College on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 to open up the winter Orange Out day.
