COMMERCE, Calif. – Andreas Nybo was named the SCIAC Swimmer of the Year after his fantastic 2020 campaign, while leading Cal Lutheran to a third-place finish at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships, their highest finish since 2017.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps came out victorious at the conference meet with 1,078 team points and Pomona-Pitzer were not far behind with 1,064 points. The Kingsmen slipped into third place with 629 points, edging out Redlands who finished with 601 points.
The final day of the SCIAC Championships included the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
On the final day of conference competition, Ben Brewer started things off by winning the 1,650-yard freestyle, breaking a school record with his time of 15:29.53. The senior earned a huge 22 points for his squad.
Stephen Blaauw also delivered a great swim with his fourth-place finish, touching the wall at 15:56.90. In sixth place, Cole Weiderman impressed with his time of 16:02.80.
In the 100-yard freestyle, senior Liam McCallum grabbed 17 points for the Kingsmen after his fourth-place finish with a 45.78, missing out on third place by just one hundredth of a second.
Luke Rodarte put in one of the best swims of the entire meet with his dominant victory in the 200-yard breaststroke. The sophomore recorded a time of 2:01.45, which is a program record and currently stands as the fourth-best time in the nation.
Newly-crowned swimmer of the year, Nybo showed why he was honored with the award by taking the 200-yard butterfly in convincing style. The junior finished with a time of 1:47.49 and shattered his own school record.
Wrapping up the meet was the quartet of Nick Kenny, McCallum, Rodarte and Nybo as they finished fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay. This performance clinched Cal Lutheran's spot on the podium, racking up a very important 34 team points.
The Kingsmen now look forward to the national meet held March 18-21, where CLU will hope to see more records fall.
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Release by Jeff Rebello, Assistant Sports Information Director
