Marilee Lorusso
Sports Editor
The University of La Verne men’s and women’s swimming teams concluded their seasons last Thursday through Saturday at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Invite held at the Cerritos Aquatic Center.
Preliminaries were held in the morning, and finals followed later in the day.
The women placed sixth with a score of 196 points, and the men placed seventh with 171 points.
Several Leopards were shut out of finals by mere seconds and set at alternate positions.
“It’s been a little frustrating because I’ve been so close,” senior Laura Larsen said.
Larsen missed qualifying for the consolation finals by one hundredth of a second in the 100-yard butterfly.
“The competition at SCIAC finals is close and every second counts,” Larsen said.
Though some Leopards struggled throughout the competition, freshman Tiffany Martin pushed forward with a time of 59.64 and a third place finish in the 100-yard butterfly event, a sixth place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:15.07 and 14th place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:19.63.
Martin broke the school record in the 100-yard butterfly with her time of 59.64.
“The team has been so supportive,” Martin said.
On the men’s side, junior Johannes Geist, finished 14th in the 400-yard IM and 16th for the 1,650-yard freestyle.
Senior Matthew Nasont broke a minute in the 100-yard backstroke, which was a personal best, with a time of 59.62. Nasont took 14th in the 200-yard backstroke Saturday night.
“It’s always exciting to see people get personal bests,” grad assistant Jared Carvitto said.
Relays took place during the evenings.
In the women’s best finish, Larsen, senior Katie Watkins and sophomores Megan Moore and Patty Allen took fifth in the 800-yard freestyle.
Larsen, Martin and sophomores Mahina Reyes and Megan Moore took sixth in the 400- yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle. Larsen, Reyes, Martin and junior Lindsay Jones took sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
In the 200-yard medley relay, Reyes, Jones, Moore and Martin finished sixth.
La Verne’s best finish in men’s relays was in the 800-yard freestyle including Geist, Nasont, senior Anthony Hernandez and junior James Ridings for a sixth place finish.
For some of the swimmers, this was the last meet of their careers.
“I’m sad to see my swimming career end, but I’m excited for my final water polo season to begin,” Larsen said.
Women’s water polo kicks off its season at home on March 3 against Chapman.
Marilee Lorusso can be reached at mlorusso@ulv.edu.
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.