WHITTIER – The Occidental men and women's swim teams lost nail biter meets to Whitter College. Throughout the meet the Tigers were within striking distance, despite many swimming off events, but could not make up the point deficit in the final events.
"Despite the quick turnaround between meets, we continue to impress and improve," head coach Tom Iannone said, in reference to Saturday's meet against CMS.
The Oxy men opened the meet with a two, three, four finish in the 200 medley relay, the B relay team just edging out the A relay.
Theo Bass and David Mariscal scored points in the 1000 finishing in second and third place respectively.
Cody Hamane swam an impressive time in the 200 freestyle, despite not training in the freestyle events, getting just out-touched by Aidan Tol of Whittier to finish with a time of 1:50.79. Austin Lashley, in an off-event for him, came in third.
In another 50 showdown, Chase Mitchell took the top Oxy spot, finishing in 22.55, .34 seconds in front of teammate William Westwater and taking advantage of a botched turn by teammate Sean Sullivan.
Matt Weiser and Ben Sappey stole the show of the 200 IM, both out swimming Whittier's top IMer.
Sullivan rebounded from his 50 with a second place finish in the 100 freestyle, swimming a 49.71, the fastest meet time for an Oxy swimmer this season.
Sappey took part in his second one, two finish of the day in the 100 yard backstroke. This time, Westwater barely out touched him by .15 seconds.
For the final relay, Westwater and Sullivan teamed up with Weiser and Sappey to try to take on the Whittier sprinters, who are among the top sprinters in the SCIAC, but could not catch them and finished in second place. The relay of Hamane, Jake Valente, Lashley, and Mitchell finished third.
On the women's side, the Tigers jumped out to a 15-2 lead when they finished one, two in the 200 medley relay, beating the Whittier A relay to the wall by nearly 3 seconds.
Rose Seabrook extended the lead by taking first in the 1000-yard freestyle, dropping 10 seconds from her time against CMS. Laura Chun came in third, swimming the 1000 for the first time in her Oxy career.
However, the Poets gained momentum in the 200 freestyle, finishing one, two, three, and followed it up with a one, three finish in the 50 free.
In the 200 IM, Ellie O'Brien finished first, taking her second of three first place finishes. She also won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:10.39.
The Tigers took the top three spots in the 500 freestyle with Madeline Gillman finishing in front and Rebeca Fernandez and Lizzy Kosin following her.
Unfortunately the Tigers could not carry the momentum into the final relay and tied for second place.
"We are in a very challenging and important part of our season and to consistently perform at a high level is something all of our athletes should be proud of," Iannone said.
