SOKA Competes in Bulldog Pentathlon
REDLANDS, CA- The Soka University Lions competed in their second meet of the season and first Pentathlon of the year hosted by the University of Redlands on Saturday morning.
The Pentathlon provides a unique meet format, giving its swimmers the opportunity to swim in five varying events for a combined individual score. This Pentathlon consisted of the 100-yard Butterfly, 100-yard Backstroke, 100-yard Breaststroke, 100-yard Freestyle, and 100-yard Individual Medley races.
For the men's team, Sean Li scored highest for the Lions, finishing 22nd overall, swimming a combined time of 4:53.18 (Butterfly 57.13 / Backstroke 1:00.97 / Breaststroke 1:06.49 / Freestyle 49.78 / Individual Medley 58.81). AJ Stewart (Butterfly 52.46/ Backstroke 59.37 / Breaststroke 1:14.95 / Freestyle 50.61 / Individual Medley 58.42) was the next highest scoring Lion placing 28th overall with a combined time of 4:55.81. Zachary Holt (Butterfly 57.64 / Backstroke 103.81 / Breaststroke 1:04.03 / Freestyle 53.19 / Individual Medley 59.58) placed 30th overall, followed by Yumma Ishii (46th), Josh Beam (53rd), Robert Wade Merill (59th), Yoshki Wurtz (62nd) and Anthony Chiu with a 64th place finish overall.
Highlighting the day for the men was Soka's AJ Stewart, who produced a 52.46 in the Men's 100-yard Butterfly event, placing second overall and scoring 17 points for the Lions. After the weekend's competitions, Stewart's performance earned him a 9th overall ranking in the NAIA for the 100-yard Butterfly event.
For the women, Makenna Carpinella was the highest-scoring Lion, finishing 31st overall swimming a combined time of 5:42.97 (Butterfly 1:07.81/ Backstroke 1:04.68 / Breaststroke 1:21.17 / Freestyle 1:01.10 / Individual Medley 1:08.21). Sophia Greco(Butterfly 1:05.71 / Backstroke 1:05.64 / Breaststroke 1:24.68 / Freestyle 101.84 / Individual Medley 1:10.74) was the next highest scoring Lion placing 40th with a combined time of 5:48.97. Sydney Sansbury (Butterfly 1:06.43 / Backstroke 1:12.68 / Breaststroke 1:32.27 / Freestyle 1:01.57 / Individual Medley 1:15.50) finished third for the Lions placing 61st, followed by Anthea Mudanye (64th), Lisa Ransom (74th), Mikiko Hashimoto (76th), and Allison Etrata with a 77th place finish.
Hashimoto's lifetime best time in the 100-yard Butterfly for the women's squad was another highpoint on the day as she dropped 14.01 seconds off of her previous time, touching in at 1:31.63.
"While our practices have been very good of late, we needed this meet and competition to help get us ready for our mid-season championship meet," said Head Coach Adam Crossen. "We also say there is no better form of training than racing. By focusing on all of our strokes in training and then competing in those same events, we got a great idea of our team strengths and found some new races for our new swimmers to the program. From here, we look to continue to get better in our training and begin to focus in on our primary events before The Wyatt Balman Invitational."
The Lions will return home to host The Wyatt Balman Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021. Swimming events will begin at 10 a.m.
Release courtesy SOKA Athletics
