Pasadena, Calif. – The Caltech swim & dive team opened up February in a dominant fashion with a strong victory against the University of La Verne in both men's and women's fields. The Beavers defeated the Leopards by a score of 218 to 32 points and the women's side by a score of 162 to 49 points.
 
It was Senior Day for the Beavers as they honored their seven seniors with a pre-meet ceremony. Starting with the women's events, graduate senior Anne Lin (University of California, San Diego) kicked off the meet in the 200-yard medley relay, which saw her and her team finish fourth. Lin also participated in the 50-yard backstroke and the 50-yard butterfly; placing third and sixth in each respective competition
 
Fellow senior Natalie Lee (Westfield, N.J. / Union County Magnet) swam on the same team as Lin did in the 200-yard medley relay but also took part in the 200-yard freestyle, in which she placed first with a time of 2:06.06. Lee also placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:03.30 and in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a team time of 8:26.05.
 
Senior Elizabeth Field (Charlottesville, Va. / Monticello) swam on the same team as Lee and Lin in the 200-yard medley relay, placing fourth in that competition. Field also swam in the 50-yard backstroke, 50-yard freestyle, and 100-yard individual medley where she placed sixth, ninth, and sixth respectively.
 
Moving to the men's side, senior Jason Lin (Los Angeles, C.A. / Taipei American School) swam second in his 200-yard medley relay, with his team finishing second place. Lin also swam in the 50-yard breaststroke, finishing second only behind fellow Beaver Alvin Zhang (Bellevue, W.A. / Lakeside School) with a time of 28.15 seconds. The 100-yard breaststroke and the 800-yard freestyle relay were the other events Lin swam in, finishing second and first.
 
Senior Sam Small (Ringwood, U.K. / Ringwood School) and his relay team finished first in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:17.34 seconds. Small also swam in the 50-yard breaststroke and the 50-yard backstroke, placing fifth and second in those competitions. He also placed second in the 200-yard medley relay along with teammates Jason Lin, Evan Zhang (Great Falls, V.A. / Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology), and Pierre Zeineddin (Gaithersburg, M.D. / Richard Montgomery).
 
The last senior to participate in the meet was Evan Zhang, who, alongside Lin and Small, finished second in the 200-yard medley relay and first in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Zhang also swam in the 50-yard freestyle, where he placed first with a time of 20.95 seconds, and the 50-yard butterfly, where he placed fourth behind three fellow beavers Marcel Liu, (Natick, M.A. / Phillips Academy) Samuel Xie, (Princeton, N.J. / The Lawrenceville School) and Reid Nussbaum (Cohasset, M.A. / Cohasset).
 
Paulina Naydenkov, (Santa Barbara, C.A / Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science) a senior, did not swim in this meet but was honored in the senior day celebrations.
 
Sophomore Ryan Lin (Millbrae, C.A. / Stanford Online) had a great performance on Saturday, placing first in three events: the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard breaststroke.
 
First-year Alvin Zhang dominated his individual competitions on Saturday as well, taking first in the 100-yard individual medley and in the 50-yard breaststroke.
 
Sophomore Karen Zhou (Trophy Club, T.X. / Byron Nelson) also had a strong day, placing first in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:02.66 seconds and first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.43 seconds.
 
Beavers sophomores Beatrice Cai (Princeton, N.J. / Princeton HS) and Emily Yu (Toronto, Can. / University of Toronto Schools) shined in their contests on Saturday. Cai and Yu both swam on the same team in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay, coming in first place in both events.
 
Cai also placed first in the 50-yard butterfly (27.48 seconds) and finished second in the 50-yard freestyle (26.00 seconds) only .08 seconds behind first place Yu (25.92 seconds). Yu also won the 100-yard freestyle with a dominant time of 56.01 seconds; over 3 seconds faster than second place.
 
Head coach Andy Brabson and the Beavers' next matchup is on February 19th, the start of the SCIAC Championships, which will be held in Monterrey Park, CA, from the 19th to the 22nd.
 
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