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Rookies Elizabeth Ma (Burien, Wash. / Mount Rainier) and Ava Balanon (Vacaville, Calif. / Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy) earned SCIAC Athlete of the Week nods for their excellent performances on Saturday as Caltech Women’s Swim & Dive hosted the University of San Diego and California Baptist University for its 2024-25 season opener.
Ma posted an outstanding first place showing in the 1000-yard freestyle with a blazing time of 10:49.60 to beat out her high-level Div. I opponents. Ma’s exceptional time puts her at second all-time in program history; her 500-yard time split from the race comes in at ninth in Caltech history at 5:24.44. Ma competed in three other events in the meet; most notably, she placed sixth out of 17 in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:16.66.
Balanon competed in both the 1-meter dive and the 3-meter dive as she outscored a slew of talented Div. I divers in her first collegiate meet. In the 1-meter dive, she placed seventh with a score of 220.50, and in the 3-meter dive she also took home seventh with a score of 227.45.
First-year Grace Tuhabonye (no hometown/major listed) put in some phenomenal performances in her first collegiate meet. The rookie earned runner-up out of 10 in the 500-yard freestyle with a blazing time of 5:13.63 and runner-up out of 15 in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing at 1:55.56. Both times put the rookie third all-time on the program record board for each respective event.
Tuhaboyne, joined by teammates junior Allison Xin (Broomfield, Colorodo / Stargate Charter), sophomore Karen Zhou (Trophy Club, Texas. / Byron Nelson) and sophomore Beatrice Cai (Princeton, N.J. / Princeton HS), competed together in two of the Beavers’ relays. In the 200-yard medley relay, the team took seventh place with a time of 1:55.30. The same team competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay and also placed seventh, finishing with a time of 3:48.25
Zhou, who competed in multiple events, collected fifth place in the 200-yard breaststroke with an impressive time of 2:35.34.
Head coach Andrew Brabson and the team will now prepare for their first inter-SCIAC matchup as the Beavers hit the road for a dual meet against Occidental College this Saturday, Nov. 2. Action begins at 10:30 a.m.
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