PASADENA, Calif. – The University of Redlands Swimming and Diving teams had a busy weekend as they wrapped up 2025 competing at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Invitational and the La Verne Winter Collegiate Invitational.
Caltech Invitational
The Redlands women finished fourth overall with 643.5 points, while the men's team also placed fourth with 414 points. The meet featured strong competition from California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, and Occidental College throughout the two-day event.
Avery Wells led the way for the Redlands women, claiming second place in the 50 Yard Freestyle with a time of 25.01 and posting another runner-up finish in the 200 Yard Freestyle at 2:01.11. Wells also contributed to the "A" relay team's second-place finish in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (1:40.62), swimming alongside Clare Carroll (Jamestown, RI), Brooklyn Green (Cary, NC), and Kaile Itow (Morgan Hill, CA).
Kileigh Ackerman (Evergreen, CO) turned in impressive backstroke performances, taking second in both the 100 Yard Backstroke (1:00.45) and 200 Yard Backstroke (2:09.45).
Lina Matera (Hingham, MA) proved versatile with fourth-place finishes in the 200 IM (2:14.94) and 100 Backstroke (1:00.83), plus a third-place showing in the 200 Backstroke (2:09.66).
In distance events, Ava Marie Vearrier (Eugene, OR) finished seventh in the 500 Freestyle (5:30.89) and sixth in the 1650 Freestyle (19:05.76).
The Bulldogs' men earned their highest relay finish with a sixth-place showing in the 400 Medley Relay, as Kadyn Butcher (Vancouver, WA), Noah Tikoo (Oviedo, FL), Landynn Olivas (El Centro, CA), and David Basa (Hoffman, Ill.) posted a time of 3:40.41.
Butcher was a consistent scorer, placing sixth in the 100 Backstroke (56.96), ninth in the 50 Freestyle (22.52), and fourth in the 100 Freestyle (50.31).
Olivas demonstrated butterfly prowess with a tenth-place finish in the 100 Butterfly (53.99) and followed up with strong performances in the 400 IM (4:16.33, third place) and 200 Butterfly (1:56.79, sixth place).
Basa contributed solid distance swims, taking eighth in the 500 Freestyle (5:07.89), eighth in the 200 Freestyle (1:49.52), and tenth in the 100 Freestyle (49.10).
La Verne Winter Intercollegiate Invitational
The Bulldogs sent a small contingent to the La Verne Winter Collegiate Invite at East Los Angeles College with two men's swimmers gaining valuable racing experience against strong Division III competition.
The meet featured a high level of competition with strong programs including UC Santa Cruz, Chapman University, and Simon Fraser University leading the team standings. The event provided valuable mid-season racing opportunities for the Bulldogs as they continue their 2025-26 campaign.
Ethan Chir (Las Vegas, NV) led the Bulldogs' effort with several solid swims across multiple events. His top performance came in the 200 IM, where he placed fourth in the finals with a time of 1:52.12 after posting 1:53.30 in the preliminaries. Chir also demonstrated his versatility in the breaststroke events, taking fifth in the 100 Breaststroke final (56.12), resetting his previous second-fastest time in program history and fifth in the 200 Breaststroke (2:03.28). In the backstroke, he finished 13th in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 52.60.
Flynn Bayne (Seattle, WA) contributed solid swims in the backstroke and butterfly events. His best showing came in the 100 Backstroke, where he finished 13th overall with a time of 52.81. Bayne also competed in the 200 Backstroke, placing 16th in the finals (2:00.92), and tackled the distance butterfly with a 34th-place finish in the 200 Butterfly (53.67).
Their performances earned all 101 Bulldog points, good for 13th in a field of 14 teams where most brought much larger rosters to the meet.
Redlands concludes their 2025 portion of the season. They restart competition on January 10 in Thousand Oaks for a SCIAC tri-meet against Caltech and California Lutheran University.
