LOS ANGELES – Caltech Women's Swim & Dive faced Occidental College, University of Redlands, and California Lutheran University Saturday and Sunday at the Occidental Invite two-day meet, setting several historical top times both in the lanes and off the springboards.
The warm, sunny weather and ample shade at the De Mandel Aquatics Center provided comfortable conditions throughout the weekend, allowing the Beavers few distractions or unusual challenges as they posted several new top-10s.
First-year diver
Jana Woo won both of the women's dive events by wide margins, earning a 260.90 score in the one-meter and 276.60 in the three-meter events, both six-dive scores above the
NCAA qualifying scores and thus earning her a berth in this winter's regional championships. Volunteering five more dives for a championship format score, she drove her total up to 496.40, a new program record.
Classmate
Elizabeth Won took third place in the 500 Freestyle and also in the 1650 Free, where both her total time and her 1000-yard split ranked third-best in Caltech history.
The 200 Medley Relay team of
Natalie Lee, Charlotte Zhang,
Mila Hong and
Brooke Williams finished in 1:49.71, the No. 4 time in the program record books, and then in the order of Zhang, Hong, Lee and Williams the same crew set another historical No. 4 time in the 400 Free Relay, finishing in 3:42.52. Lee additionally claimed Caltech's fifth-best 200 Backstroke time of 2:11.30, earning her second place in the meet, and she also tied for second in the 100 Backstroke behind her teammate Williams in first place. Williams also picked up a win in the 50 Free.
Rounding out the new top-10s were Sophomore
Paulina Naydenkov, with a program ninth-best sime of 20:19.38 in the grueling 1650 Free, and Zhang's 100-yard leadoff leg in the 400 Free Relay is the new Caltech No. 10 at 55.49 seconds.
The overall meet score of 555.5 earned third place and a win over Redlands.
"The Team did a phenomenal job competing this weekend," Head Coach Andy Brabson said. "We will look to continue building the positive moentum into the second half of our season."
Brabson and the Beavers have the rest of the calendar year off, resuming action at home in the Braun Pool on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 at 10 a.m. as part of the Winter Orange Out day.
