Two meet records and one overall SCIAC mark fell as Pomona-Pitzer Colleges moved into first place on the third day of the 2026 SCIAC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
Nina Aballea shattered last year’s SCIAC record in the 200-yard Freestyle by over a second, clocking a 1:48.59 before the Sagehen 200 Free Relay team of
Sabrina Wang,
Francesca Coppo,
Ellie Burkhardt and
Chesna Pelka also broke a meet record with a 1:31.49 and came within the slimmest of margins (.01) of the overall SCIAC mark.
The Sagehens lead Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges by 72 points with Chapman University in third with 292. Caltech ranks fourth with 243 points followed closely by California Lutheran University (234), Occidental College (195), Whittier College (147), the University of Redlands (138) and the University of La Verne (83).
In the 3-meter diving competition held between swim sessions,
Simone Sabeeh and
Josie Kearns took first and third for CMS while
Jana Woo won Caltech a silver medal.
Bennett Jones won the 400 IM (4:25.90) and
Amaia Sherman keyed a strong team performance with a victory in the 100 Back for the Sagehens.
Mackenzie Mayfield earned silver for CMS after opening with a near-two second edge over the first 100 yards before Jones flipped the order at the halfway point, then dropped the fastest freestyle close in the field at 1:00.41. Fellow Athena
Olivia Hoyla placed third. Sherman (55.93) fronted a podium sweep for Pomona-Pitzer alongside
Charlotte Dixon and last year's champion,
Izzy Yoon, with another two Sagehens placing fifth and sixth for a big haul. As Aballea surged ahead on the second 50 of the 200 Free, teammates Pelka and Burkhardt completed another podium sweep.
Madeleine Kan and
Sun Young Byun opened the night with a 1-2 finish for CMS in the 100 Fly, clocking a 54.30 and 54.80, respectively, while
Sabrina Wang headlined a Sagehen run of the next five places. In the 100 Breast, Coppo took silver for Pomona-Pitzer while Milan Manfredi placed third for the Athenas. The night concluded with CMS and Chapman rounding out the 200 Free podium.
Follow the SCIAC on Threads (@theSCIAC), X - formerly Twitter (@theSCIAC) and Instagram (@thesciac) with hashtags #SCIACtion and #SoCalSoGood. Watch all home SCIAC games, matches, and meets online through FloSports: https://flosports.link/SCIAC