by Chrissy Zehrbach
Assistant Editor
The University of La Verne swimming and diving team capped off its season with a record-breaking weekend at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships in Cerritos.
A total of 16 ULV swimming and diving records were set over the weekend, 11 of which were broken by the men’s team.
“Mostly everyone stepped up and did really well,” said head coach John Hallman. “Overall it was a great meet.”
In the meet, the men’s team captured a third-place finish, as well as two SCIAC championships.
Junior Jason Walters, a candidate for SCIAC Athlete of the Year, finished first in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke with times of 52.10 and 1:53.91. Walters also took second place with a 1:55.17 finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Waters maintained his record times in these events.
In the men’s individual races, three Leopards were big contributors to the meet’s success, breaking seven records.
Freshman Justin Haas broke three individual records in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.58), 500-yard freestyle (4:47.84) and the 1650-yard freestyle (17:09.04).
“It’s really exciting to be a part of a team that made such an impact on previous La Verne times,” Haas said.
Junior Zach Zerbe broke individual records with second-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (21.52) and the 100-yard freestyle (47:37)
Freshman Jared Carvitto set individual records in the 400-yard individual medley (4:08.96) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:06.96), which also earned second-place finishes. He also set a record in the 200-yard butterfly (1:58.36).
The men’s freestyle relay teams also excelled and broke three team records.
Junior Ryan Jensen, sophomore Owen Barrett, Haas and Zerbe broke the 200-yard freestyle relay record with a second-place time of 1:27.89.
Zerbe, Carvitto, Jensen and Walters broke the 400-yard freestyle relay record with a third-place finish in 3:10.95.
Jensen, Carvitto, Walters and Haas broke the 800-yard freestyle relay record with a second-place finish in 7:08.70.
The women came away with a fifth place finish in the meet, breaking five ULV records in the process.
“Everyone was focused,” said sophomore Wendy Schwartz. “I don’t think there was a person on the team who didn’t drop time on something, if not everything.”
Freshman Mary Manzo broke her own records in the 400-yard individual medley (4:55.6) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:35.27). Sophomore Morgan Delaney set a new record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a second-place finish in 1:10.70.
In diving, senior Crystal Marks bested her own records in the one-meter and three-meter springboard diving with scores of 339.45 and 429.80.
Marks, Walters, and Carvitto are all candidates to advance to nationals based on their times from SCIAC finals.
“It was probably the best conference championship we’ve had,” Hallman said.
“Going in, I thought we had a chance to break nine; I was very proud of the ones who stuck with it.”
In the final SCIAC standings for the season, the men took third, and the women took fifth.
Hallman said these are the same standings as last year, but the scoring gap is much closer and that “bodes well for next year.”
The Leopards saw great improvement over the season and, with only four seniors leaving, the team is expecting to do even better next year.
