Caltech Swim & Dive was victorious over the Occidental Tigers on both the men's and women's side in its SCIAC opener on Saturday, as the two schools dueled at the Braun Pools in Pasadena.
The Beaver women defeated Occidental 192-93 in total points while the men produced a 181-115 victory.
On the women's side, first-year Elizabeth Nguyen (Renton, Wash. / Hazen High School) had herself a day winning both the 100-Yard (1:08.66) and 200-Yard Breaststroke (2:29.34) events. Nguyen's 100-Breast time was the third-fastest in school history and her 200-breast time was the fourth-fastest in school history. Nguyen was on the 2nd place 200-Yard Medley Relay team and also the 1st place 400-Yard Freestyle relay.
First-year Alyssa Kwon (Derwood, Md. / Montgomery Blair High School), junior Beatrice Cai (Princeton, N.J. / Princeton HS) and junior Karen Zhou (Trophy Club, Texas / Byron Nelson) swam the other three legs of 200-Medley Relay. Sophomore Elizabeth Ma (Burien, Wash. / Mount Rainier), first-year Lucia Zhang (Irvine, Calif. / The Loomis Chaffee School) and Kwon swam the 400-Free Relay along with Nguyen.
Kwon also won two individual events Saturday, coming in first in both the 100-Yard Backstroke and 200-Yard Backstroke. Her 1:01.60 100-back is good for ninth on the Caltech all-time leaderboard. She also swam the fastest split of the 400-Free Relay.
Ma won the 200-Yard Butterfly in 2:11.97 to break her own sixth-fastest time in Caltech program history in that event. She showed prowess over short and long distances, winning the 100-Yard Freestyle and achieving second place in the 1000-Yard Freestyle.
On the springboard, senior Jana Woo (Saratoga, Calif. / Monta Vista) and sophomore Ava Balanon (Vacaville, Calif. / Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy) solidified their NCAA Regional Qualifications by meeting the standard on both boards.
On the men's side, first-year Brent Kong (Scotts Valley, Calif. / Scotts Valley High School) won the 100-Yard Freestyle even in 10:27.03. Sophomore Aaron Dumas (San Diego, Calif. / Cathedral Catholic) won the 100-Yard Backstroke with a time of 55:31.
"Overall, this was a great showing for our SCIAC opener and gives us some good momentum as we build for our midseason invite," Head Coach Andy Brabson said.
Caltech travels to the Campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont to duel the Stags and Athenas Nov. 15 at 10:30 a.m.
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