MONTERREY PARK, Calif.—Eight Lewis & Clark College swimmers advanced to Finals and the River Otters posted two top-five marks in program history on the third and final day of the 2025 Winter Collegiate Swim invite.
THE BASICS
Men's Swimming – 9
th out of 14 Teams – 375 Points
Women's Swimming – 14
th out of 15 Teams – 66 Points
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior
Angie Cummings notched the third-fastest time in program history in the 200 Backstroke and the men's 400 Free Relay Team added the fourth-fastest mark in school history.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Seniors
Aniqah Gaffoor and
Elise Barton and Cummings became the first Lewis & Clark women to earn spots in Finals to close out the weekend on a high.
Cummings placed 22
nd in the 200 Backstroke Prelims with a season-best mark of 2:13.09. In the Finals, she won the C Final with a career-best time of 2:07.96. Her time moved her from fourth to third all-time in program history in the event. Sophomore
Claire Hurty took 37
th in the 200 Backstroke with a collegiate-best mark of 2:24.47. First year
Emily McAnally (2:32.99) and sophomore
Xandra Kuenz (2:44.62) each posted collegiate-best times to finish 39
th and 40
th.
Gaffoor and Barton each qualified for the Finals in the 100 IM. The duo placed 19
th and 20
th in the Prelims with Gaffoor (1:04.03) barely edging Barton (1:04.15). In the Finals, Gaffoor posted a career-best time of 1:02.74 to place 19
th overall. Barton took 20
th place with a career-best time of her own (1:03.87). Cummings notched a career-best time of 1:05.14 in the Prelims to place 23
rd but elected to not swim in the Finals. Seniors
Ella Gimon (1:10.12) and
Kyra Milner (1:17.80) each notched career-best times to finish 34
th and 36
th.
Gaffoor also led Lewis & Clark in the 200 Fly. She recorded a career-best time of 2:23.28 to place 28
th.
Barton finished first out of six Lewis & Clark swimmers in the 100 Free. She notched a season-best mark of 54.99 to place 37
th. Junior
Sophie Justus finished second on the team and 61
st overall with a career-best time of 57.63. Gimon placed 75
th overall with a mark of 1:00.63. Junior
Ainsley Rios (1:04.10), Kuenz (1:07.12) and Milner (1:08.31) all posted career-best times and finished 80
th, 83
rd and 84
th.
Hurty and Justus represented the River Otters in the 1,650 Free. Hurty touched the wall in a season-best time of 19:58.17 to place 34
th. Justus added a career-best mark of 20:10.38 to come in 36
th.
The River Otters 400 Free Relay Team placed 19
th overall. The quartet of Barton, Justus, Cummings and Gaffoor registered a season-best time of 3:44.86.
MEN'S RECAP
Five Lewis & Clark men's swimmers advanced to finals and four posted top-10 finishes as part of a strong final day in California.
The 400 Free Relay team notched the lone top-five mark in program history on Sunday. Seniors
Ezra Billings and
Michael Spicer, sophomore
Sam LoCurto and senior
Zach Martin notched a time of 3:10.81. They placed 10
th overall in the event. Lewis & Clark's second team of first years
Reid McAllister and
Max Zuberbuhler and juniors
Aidan Beatty and
Colin Ziegler closed in 3:37.62 to finish 19
th.
Billings posted his second top-five finish of the weekend to lead eight River Otters in the 100 Free. The senior finished third in Prelims with a time of 45.36. He came back on Sunday night and just missed out on tying his own program record in the event (44.66). Billings touched the wall in 44.76 to finish third overall. Martin finished second on the team in the morning with a 28
th-place finish (47.94). McAllister added a career-best time of 51.58 to place 51
st. Ziegler took 58
th place with a time of 53.41. Beatty (career-best 54.34), Zuberbuhler (collegiate-best 1:00.42) and first year
Kofi Franklin (collegiate-best 1:00.52) finished 62
nd-64
th.
Spicer placed seventh overall in the 200 Breaststroke. The senior took seventh in the morning session with a season-best time of 1:54.14. He finished seventh in the Finals with a mark of 1:54.38. Sophomore
Isaiah Frei also made the Finals in the event. He finished 17
th in the Prelims with a season-best time of 2:09.32. Frei posted a time of 2:10.34 in the Finals to finish 18
th.
Martin and LoCurto each made the Finals in the 100 IM. The pair finished 10
th and 11
th in the Prelims. Martin (55.49) edged LoCurto (55.90) with both swimmers posting PR times. Martin finished first in the B Final with a new PR time of 53.46 (ninth place). LoCurto came in 10
th overall with a new PR of 55.02.
Frei made it to his first Final of the day/weekend in the 200 Backstroke. The sophomore registered a mark of 2:03.05 to place 21
st. He improved upon his time by over a second to finish 20
th with a season-best mark of 2:01.68. Zuberbuhler touched the wall in 2:36.74 to place 29
th.
Ziegler and Franklin represented the River Otters in the 200 Breastroke. Ziegler notched a season-best time of 2:32.16 to finish 31
st. Franklin added a collegiate-best mark of 2:36.86 to come across in 33
rd place.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Cummings moved from fourth to third in program history in the 200 Backstroke after improving her PR by 2.36 seconds.
- Spicer's time (1:54.15) in the 200 Fly was a big season-best mark and was just 0.25 seconds off his PR. The mark would rank fourth all-time in the event – if not for his career-best time of 1:53.90.
- The women's 400 Free Relay team improved upon their season-best time by 26.85 seconds.
- LoCurto swam the 100 Free as an exhibition. He posted a season-best mark of 48.77.
- Spicer swam a PR time of 55.84 in the 100 IM. He competed in the event as an exhibition.
- Frei's time of 2:01.68 in the 200 Backstroke would rank 10th all-time in program history if not for his PR time at last year's Northwest Conference Championship (1:59.89 – seventh all-time).
WHO'S NEXT
Swimming will be off until after the New Year. The team will resume competition on Friday, January 23 at 5 p.m., when they travel to take on Linfield University.
