University of Redlands sophomore Collin Gladys has been named Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Men’s Athlete of the Week for the week of March 15-21.

Gladys won the program’s second-ever NCAA Division III national title when he clocked the winning time of 1:48.55 in the men’s 200 individual medley at the 2010 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday, March 17, at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

That time eclipsed the former school record of 1:49.53, which Gladys established at the 2010 SCIAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Feb. 21. By virtue of his finish, he earned All-America honors. Gladys also took fifth in the men’s 100 breaststroke (55.29), setting a program record and gaining All-America laurels in the process. In addition, he received Honorable Mention All-America recognition for his contributions to the 16th-place 200 medley relay (1:34.70), the 15th-place 200 freestyle relay (1:24.71) and the 14th-place 400 freestyle relay (3:06.55).
 
Annie Perizzolo of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges captured the SCIAC Women’s Athlete of the Week honor after winning two national titles at the 2010 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. Perizzolo touched first in both the women’s 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
 
The SCIAC Athletes of the Week are voted on by the eight conference sports information directors on a weekly basis,

The season ended for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps basketball teams as the Stags were turned back by Chapman 58-47 on Thursday in a first round playoff game. The win avenged an earlier loss as the Panthers were beaten by CMS by a one point early on.

It was a great atmosphere for college basketball. The Hutton Sports Center was packed with fans from both schools. Students on the Chapman side didn’t sit down even once.

SCIAC Player of the Year Chris Blees had a particularly bad night scoring just seven points on 2-for-13 shooting from the field. He shot an air ball on a 3-pointer in the first half and pretty much heard it from the crowd every time he touched the ball after that.

Welcome to playoff basketball on the road.

The CMS followers returned the favor when one of the Chapman players did the same.

The game was even at 44-all but CMS managed just three points in the last seven minutes., It was a combination of everything – turnovers, missed free throws, not getting the key rebound.

CMS coach Ken Scalmanini was going for his 200th career win in his 12 years at the school. He’ll have to wait until next year. CMS ends a still-solid season at 21-7. Chapman improves to 24-2.

Chapman has a couple of area players, both pretty good ones. Griffin Ramme had 21 points while Justin Riley had six points, seven rebounds, three steals and a monster block. Both are out of Damien High School.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps basketball player Cameron Hanson is this week’s SCIAC Female Athlete of the Week.

The senior center averaged a double-double as CMS went 2-0 to secure a spot in the SCIAC tournament after being three games down with four to play.

 In Thursday’s must-win at Whittier, she had 12 points, nine rebounds, six steals and three blocks as CMS won 80-61.

 In Saturday’s home finale against Pomona-Pitzer, she scored 10 points and added 13 rebounds, three blocks and three steals as CMS won 65-51. She shot 61% (7/13) from the field in the two games. In SCIAC play, she averages 8.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

POMONA-PITZER 20, PUGET SOUND 14 (OT)

Tight end Robert McNitt caught a 23-yard scoring pass from receiver R.J. Maki in overtime to give the Sagehens a victory in their season opener in Tacoma, Wash., in their season opener.

The Sagehens tallied 397 yards offense with quarterback Jacob Caron throwing for 293. Colin Regan caught 13 passes for 11 yards while Maki hauled in eight for 105 highlighted by a 6-yard toss from Caron that gave Pitzer a 14-7 lead. Russell Oka led the ground game with 64 yards.

CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS 22, LEWIS & CLARK 7

Andrew Segal rushed for 125 yards and quarterback Scott Yingling threw for 163 as the Stags turned back the Pioneers in their season opener.

Chet Corcos had field goals of 31 and 35 yards. Yingling had a 1-yard touchdown run and D.J. Lillard scored on a 2-yarder.

CMS rolled up 405 yards offense while limiting the host team to 55.

Host East Texas Baptist put together a pair of big innings Thursday, and the Lady Tigers cruised to a 9-0 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the opening day of the 2009 NCAA Division III Softball Championship West Regional at Taylor Field.

The Lady Tigers (38-7), regular season champions of the American Southwest Conference East Division, advance to face rival Louisiana College at 2 p.m. Friday.

The Athenas (28-15) will face SCIAC rival La Verne in an elimination game Friday at noon.

ETBU exploded for four runs in the second inning without ever getting the ball out of the infield. Stacy Jordan started things with an infield single, and came around to score the game’s first run on Dani Miller’s groundout.

Kaleigh Mushinski walked to push across the second run, and Adrienne Meier delivered a rare two-run infield single latr in the inning.

ETBU added five more runs in the fourth inning, all coming with two outs. Back-to-back singles from Brooke Martin and Meier started the rally, and Jordan made it 5-0 with an infield single.

Jones followed with a two-run single to center for a 7-0 lead, and Miller capped the win with a two-run double to right-center for the run-rule victory.

ETBU’s Ayrika Henderson (18-3) allowed just four hits and struck out five in getting the five-inning victory. Ericka Weingart (10-8) took the loss for the Athenas, allowed four earned runs on three hits and four walks in 1 2/3 innings.

Senior tennis standout Tori Damiani (Sacramento, CA) was named the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Female Athlete of the Week for her solid performance during the 2009 SCIAC Championship Tournament.

Damiani went undefeated during the two-day event, competing at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles.  She played a pivotal role in the Bulldogs’ share of the conference championship and upset of No. 7 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the tournament final.

Damiani joined forces with teammate junior Rachael Miller and posted doubles wins over Whittier (8-1), Cal Lutheran (8-2), and Pomona-Pitzer (8-5).

In singles, Damiani captured a 6-1, 6-3 victory over her opponent from Cal Lutheran during the semifinal round and then clinched the match win, conference championship, and NCAA automatic bid for the Bulldogs with her come-from-behind 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 showing against the Sagehens.

For her contributions during the season, Damiani earned First Team All-Conference honors.

The male athlete of the week was Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges’ tennis player Larry Wang.

The University of Redlands swimming & diving teams finished as runners-up to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in both the men’s and women’s competition following the third and final day of competition at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships.

Freshman Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA) received the conference’s Athlete of the Year honor following a meet where he set three program records and one conference record individually and four program marks and one conference standard as a relay member. With “A” qualifying standards in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, he receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship meet, which takes place in Minneapolis, MN, from March 18-21.

The Redlands record book got torched throughout the three-day meet as the men set a total of eight program records while three program marks fell on the women’s side.

Saturday’s finals session featured a timed-final heat of the women’s 1650 freestyle, and three Bulldogs managed top-eight finishes in the event. Sophomore Michelle Camburn (Sunnyvale, CA) stopped the clock at 18:16.25, taking sixth. Camburn’s swim bested the program’s former record of 18:16.60 in the event, which Cathleen Penney ’07 set in 2006. Sophomore Kayla Desai (Lakewood, CO) and junior Danielle Caver (Highland, CA) finished seventh and eighth with times of 18:54.20 and 18:58.71, respectively.

Sophomore Alec Alders (Los Angeles, CA) completed the trifecta, winning his third event of the meet with a decisive 16:05.58 victory in the men’s 1650 freestyle. Alders flirted with the program record in the event (16:04.99) but earned an NCAA provisional qualifying time with the performance nonetheless. Senior Marc Hicks (Granada Hills, CA) caught Occidental Colleges’ Michael Wade at the 800 mark of the race and earned a fifth-place finish (16:47.88) while junior Ned Voytovich (Salt Lake City, UT) powered through the back half of his race to gain a seventh-place time of 17:01.21.

Utilizing her endurance, senior Hillary Nicholson (Santa Cruz, CA) maintained a solid spot in the middle of the pack in the women’s 200 backstroke throughout the entirety of the race and took fourth with a time of 2:11.16.

Backstroke depth again helped the men earn points as the Bulldogs placed sixth through eighth in the men’s 200 backstroke. Junior Ian Starkie (Arroyo Grande, CA) took sixth with a 2:01.41 time, sophomore Mike Reilly (Coral Gables, FL) finished seventh with a 2:02.78 mark and junior Chad Kyffin (San Jose, CA) stopped the clock eighth with a 2:02.95 standard.

Two young sprint talents allowed the Bulldogs to make a strong presence in the women’s 100 freestyle. Freshman Casey Sripramong (Glendale, CA) took advantage of a surge in the second half of her race to gain a fifth-place finish (54.91) while freshman Jaime Nippert (Gresham, OR) had a competitive showing as well, taking eighth with a 56.00 time.

Harp became the first-ever SCIAC swimmer to crack the elusive 45-second barrier in the men’s 100 freestyle as he lowered Greg Milton ’96′s program and conference record of 45.07, which he set back in 1993 when he won the event at the NCAA Championship meet. Harp’s swim also cleared the NCAA automatic qualifying time by .01. His teammate, sophomore Miran Terzic (Mostar, Bosna i Hercegovina), finished right behind him with an NCAA provisional cut time of 45.44. Two additional Redlands swimmers placed in the top eight as well. Senior Buddy Olds (Murrieta, CA) touched the wall at 47.07 for fourth place while junior John Floersch (San Jose, CA) captured seventh (47.50).

Three Redlands student-athletes swam in the championship final of the women’s 200 breaststroke, and freshman McKenzie Nakamura (Kenmore, WA) led the way with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and a program record of 2:23.85 in her second-place showing in the event. Cathleen Penney ’07 clocked the former gold standard of 2:25.70 back in 2006. Sophomore Jo Navarro (Chandler, AZ) tapped in at 2:33.30 for sixth while sophomore Kelley Cooper (San Antonio, TX) finished eighth with a time of 2:34.70.

Freshman Mike Grant (Weston, MA) took out his first 100 in a 1:03.30 and pushed through the final half of the race to give the Maroon and Gray a fifth-place finish in the men’s 200 breaststroke (2:17.60). Rounding out the top eight finishers was Hicks who clocked an eighth-place 2:20.31.

Despite having just two Bulldog representatives in finals, Redlands took advantage of its depth as it accounted for six of the eight consolation finalists in the men’s 200 butterfly. Freshman Jesse Lieberman (Princeton, NJ) clocked a lifetime-best 1:57.82 for sixth in the championship final while sophomore Sonny Morin (Seattle, WA) managed a time of 2:02.43, which earned him eighth.

The Redlands women closed out the weekend with a fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Sripramong led off the relay with a 54.90 split, setting the pace for the quartet. Freshman K.C. Hughes (Gig Harbor, WA), Cooper and Nakamura followed suit and registered a final time of 3:41.52.

Perhaps none of the broken records of the weekend resonated as much as the Bulldogs’ victory in the men’s 400 freestyle relay. With the bleachers on the starting end of the pool packed with swimmers cheering on their teammates in the final event of the meet, a loud atmosphere ensued, setting the stage for a final curtain call by the Redlands sprinters.

Olds led off the relay with a time that was nearly a full second faster than that of his 100 freestyle in the championship final an hour prior, clocking a 46.26. Terzic extended the lead over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the second leg with a 45.25 and handed a two-second lead off to Floersch. With a strong first lap to set the tempo, Floersch muscled his way through the 100 in 46.03 and gave the large lead off to the individual champion in the 100 freestyle, Harp. With the race already in hand, Harp battled the clock and turned in a remarkable anchor split of 44.92 to give the team a total time of 3:02.46.

Their collective efforts earned a quality NCAA “B” cut while erasing a 26-year-old SCIAC record (3:03.10) and a 16-year-old program record (3:05.31).

The Athenas won the women’s meet with relative ease, raking in a whopping 1004.5 points throughout the meet. Redlands finished second with 621 points while Pomona-Pitzer Colleges settled for third (547).

For the second consecutive year, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the men’s meet. Despite elite performances from both sides, the Stags edged the Bulldogs in the end by a 932.5-871 score. Pomona-Pitzer emerged in a three-team battle for third with 402.5 points.

Both Harp and Terzic possess NCAA “A” cuts and earn an automatic invitation to the NCAA Championship meet, which is held in Minneapolis, MN, from March 18-21. Those who possess “B” qualifying times are placed in an at-large pool but are not guaranteed a spot at the meet.

The NCAA will announce a psych sheet for the NCAA Championship meet after the conference championship season is completed. Further information on additional invitees to the national championship meet will be posted on www.goredlands.com.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps basketball player Chris Blees has been named SCIAC Male Athlete of the Week.

The sophomore forward from Carmichael was named MVP of the Lee Fulmer Memorial Tournament after he led the Stags to a 3-0 record and the title.  In the three games, he scored 61 points, had 20 rebounds, seven assists and three steals while shooting 26-34 (.765) from the floor. 

 He had 10 points and four rebounds in the team’s opening round 75-48 win over Southwestern College.  He had 16 points and seven rebounds in the team’s 73-68 semifinal win over #15 Whitworth University.  He was a force in the championship game, scoring 35 points on 15 of 19 (.789) shooting with nine rebounds and six assists, as CMS beat Whitman College 79-78. 

 Blees currently leads the Stags in both scoring (15.0/g) and rebounding (6.7) and is shooting 68.7% (46-67) from the field.  CMS is 6-1 overall.

By Michelle Gardner

Staff Writer

REDLANDS – The first two times the women’s soccer teams from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the University of Redlands squared off, one goal made the difference. Each team won on its home field. So no one could be surprised that was the difference in the rubber match.

It was Athenas sophomore Laura Hagen chipping a shot in from 20 yards out 20 minutes into the second half to give the third-seeded CMS squad a 1-0 win over the top-seeded Bulldogs in the SCIAC Championship at Farquhar Field Saturday night. The win sends CMS (11-8-1) into the playoffs as the conference representative.

Redlands (14-5-1), which topped the conference in the regular season, will have to wait and see if it gets an at-large bid.

The Bulldogs had a 21-10 edge in shots, many of those coming in the last 10 minutes in which they dominated play but nothing got past keeper Camila Friedman-Gerlicz.

“I think I’ve aged 10 years in the last 10 minutes,” CMS coach Keri Sanchez said. “They’re a great team and we knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle. It was a relief to score the first goal but we knew they were going to battle.”

The Bulldogs had not allowed a goal since a 1-0 double overtime loss to Pomona-Pitzer on Oct. 11. They came in with a streak of seven straight shutouts that included a 3-0 win over the University of La Verne in Wednesday’s tournament semifinal.

CMS lost four of its last five regular season games and needed a penalty kick shootout to get past Cal Lutheran 3-2 in the semifinal.

“We definitely felt like the underdog coming in,” Hagen said. “They had been playing very well and we kind of backed in. It feels good to get one when it really matters.”

Twelve minutes after the Athenas made it 1-0, the Bulldogs had a great chance. A shot by Becky Willis was knocked away by a diving Friedman-Gerlicz. The ball deflected back to Emily van den Bosch but her shot was just over the crossbar.

The Bulldogs had even better chances in the second half. A shot by Kelsey Kimmel from 25 yards out with 5:03 was wide left. A minute later Kaily Benanti dribbled toward the net but the ball she never got a good swing at the ball and it slipped off the left corner of the net.

Then in the last minute and Redlands in desperation mode a direct kick by Chelsea Hafley  went right of the goal and out of bounds before a teammate could catch up to it. That proved to be the Bulldogs last chance.

Friedman-Gelicz made nine saves while Redlands counterpart Tenley Rawlings made seven.

The Division III playoff draw will be announced Monday. It will be another wait-and-see for the Bulldogs who have won the regular season two of the last three years, only to lose in the tournament.

“The SCIAC hasn’t been very lucky when it comes to getting a second team in,” Redlands coach Suzette Soboti said. “This is disappointing because we had so many good chances. We were just a little unlucky.”