Aquatic Newsletter May 7th 2012
Some folks were asking for a recap of this year’s Swimming
& Diving Team. So here we go!!
Undergrad NEWS----
>Largest Swim Team in Caltech history, 32 men and 28 women.
>Freshmen Jackie Masehi-Lano begins her Caltech career with a 3
individual events wins against Vanguard.
>Both Men & Women win the first meet against Vanguard
University.
>Lose our next two dual meets to Conference Champs Claremont
& a much improved Whittier College.
>Jackie Masehi-Lano receives “SCIAC Athlete of the
Week” (picked from all the sports of all the colleges in
SCIAC) for winning 8 of her first 10 races.
>Travel to Las Vegas for the UNLV “Winter
Invite”. Everyone swam great and hit mid season times
early in the year. This set the stage for an outstanding swim
season (saw a woman from Fresno blast a 52.41 - 100 back)
Christmas Break
>Dropped two good meets to Redlands (2nd at NCAA Championship)
and Cal Lu.
>Win five meets in three days. Women sweep two meets
against St. Joseph College, NY and Mills College (Bay Area) while
the men upset Chapman University 157-60
>Dropped two more good meets to Occidental & Pomona
Pitzer. Swam fast and divers dove well.
>Lose a close meet to La Verne Men 121-111 without an injured
captain Peter Buhler. Women 116 -109 came down to the last event,
400 Free Relay.
>Jackie Masehi-Lano continues to set 6 school records in
individual races.
>Diver Justin Johnson led the diving squad to a fine diving
performance at the SCIAC prelims. Freshmen Ben Grabowski and
senior Jess Swallow both place 10th 1m & 9th on 3m. Timi
Kosztin nailed her final three dives on the 1m board but could only
climb to 12th place in the final standings, but rebounded to 9th on
the higher board.
>SCIAC Finals -- Surprise -- first year Katie Ching made it
into finals along with Justin. At the finals, Justin saved
the best for last - placing 3rd on 1m and placing 2nd on the 3m
board scoring 414.75 points, which earned him NCAA consideration.
Katie got hurt during warm-ups and was unable to compete.
>SCIAC Finals – Buhler fought through injuries but failed
to make it into any finals. Jackie Masehi-Lano scored points
in the finals of 100 & 200 fly and set a new school record in
the longer event. Relays played a big role as the men’s 400
Medley Relay D Q’ed and there was no way to make up the
points and Caltech placed 8th. The last women’s event
of the meet the 400 Free Relay. The team of Caitlin Regan –
56.68, Janis Intoy – 59.82, Jackie Masehi-Lano – 55.56,
and Margaux Lopez – 58.48 set a school records and a seventh
place finish to hold La Verne at bay 157 – 151 (the same team
also set a new school mark in the 800 free relay)
ALUMNI NEWS:
Swim and Scuba student Andrea Ghez (PhD 92’) is winner of
the (super impressive) Crafoord Prize which recognizes
extraordinary achievement in mathematics and astronomy.
Andrea is currently the Leichtman & Levine Professor of
Astrophysics at UCLA and you can view her TED lecture. Andrea
will be flying to Sweden soon to receive her award. Kudos to Dr.
Ghez.
Jordan Holt (89’ Swimmer & Water Polo Player) and his
wonderful wife and family stopped by to check out the campus.
His good looking children might be on the verge of committing to
Caltech. Jordan is up in Portland, OR with fellow techer Boyd
Bangander.
David Bruning (86’ Swimmer & Water Polo Player) and his
wonderful wife and family took a trip from Maryland to
California. After a visit to Caltech they traveled up the
coast and over to Yosemite. I think his kids Ben & Rachel
had a great time in California. Maybe Caltech is in their
future.
MORE NEWS:
Swim Team got a national honor – picked as the very top
academic swim team in the nation (ahead of the Ivy’s,
Stanford and the Rest) from all the divisions I, II and III
colleges. With a big team and a total GPA of 3.60 this is
very impressive at any school, but knowing how hard Thermal and
Quadratic Equitations are -- WOW!!
Speaking of the Ivys – high school senior Emma Dodd will be
attending Brown University in Rhode Island. She will be
studying Geophysics and playing Water Polo for Brown. Watch out all
you Alumni on the East Coast.
Next year Jim Blackwood is coming to Caltech to joining CIT senior
brother Jack on the swim/water polo teams. More swimming
siblings Dave 85’ – Larry Watkins 74’, Dan
07’ – Tom Oliver 09’, Cillia 08 – Panna
Felsen 10’, Beth 03’ – Mary Doman 08’,
Jerry 09’ – Tommy Kwong 13’, Casey 99, Emma
02’ and Toby Huang 04’. (we want more)
Any Page Alumni in the Pasadena Area – Page Alumni Dinner is
coming up May 17th. (they need you) (Contact Page House
President off the web)
Dr. Auna Moser (triple treat BS, MS and PhD all from Caltech) -
passed her candidacy last month and now has her PhD in Applied
Physics from Caltech. She gave a great defense and everyone
is so proud of her. While an undergrad at Caltech Auna played
polo, swam and dove on the team. While working on her Masters
she also learned Scuba and later was my Assistant Instructor.
Congratulations and thanks for Auna’s years of support and
friendship. Dr. Moser will be heading to New Mexico for her
next big adventure.