WHITTIER, Calif. (Nov. 11, 2023) – Freshman
Mia Piexoto (Salem, Ore. / West Salem) of the Whittier College women's swimming & diving team staked her claim as one of the top newcomers in the SCIAC by winning every single event she participated in at Saturday's SCIAC home meet. The Poets competed against California Lutheran University.
After competing on the Poets' "A" team in the 200 Medley Relay, Piexoto would not again take the pool until the 18th event of the day, though she quickly put together a banner resume for the day as the team's top competitor in non-freestyle events. The freshman first knocked off Cal Lutheran's top backstroke swimmer in the 200 Back, keeping a steady pace before pulling away in the latter half of the race. She clocked in with a time of 2:13.13. Minutes later, Piexoto led a 1-2 finish alongside classmate
Nailyn Lopez (Chino Hills, Calif. / Chino Hills) in the 200 Breast, first touching the wall in 2:27.15. Finally, Piexoto finished the day with a 2:13.77 in the 200 IM, holding a five-and-a-half second margin of victory over the Regals' next fastest swimmer.
Piexoto's big effort led the Whittier women to scoring 112 points on the day, though she was not the only Whittier swimmer to win events on the day. Junior
Anna Dyckerhoff (Palo Alto, Calif. / Woodside Priority) came up huge for her team in the 200 Free, where she touched the wall in 2:03.72. Classmate and breaststroke specialist
Gessica King also had a nice day, beating three Regals swimmers in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:10.33.
A pair of divers also contributed to Whittier's team score, competing in the 1-meter competition that preceded the swimming portion of the day. Freshman
Miriam Brownell (Marshall, Mich. / Marshall) and senior
Juli Veneri (Hawaii Kai, Hawaii / Kaiser) posted scores in the 1-meter diving for the second week in a row.
Head Coach
Michael Jafari and the Poets will return to competition next weekend when they compete at the ELAC Collegiate Winter Invite on Friday, Nov. 17, and Saturday, Nov. 18.
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