On March 13, the California Lutheran University Kingsmen and Regals Swim & Dive teams hosted the University of Redlands. The Kingsmen took down the Bulldogs 123-74 and after fighting hard, the Regals ultimately lost 153-43.

The Kingsmen started the day off strong, clenching the win in the men’s 200-yard medley relay. Swimmers Miles Gaitan, Luke Rodarte, Nick Kenny and AJ Nybo all swam a leg in the race.

“We knew it was going to be a tough competition but we all went into it knowing that and we’re ready for the challenge and I think we lived up to that expectation,” first-year Kingsmen swimmer Ethan Smith said.

Among the top performers was Regals first-year swimmer Alice Peterson, who won the 200-yard freestyle.

Senior swimmer Stephen Blaauw bested his own personal record in the 1000-yard freestyle where he already holds the third place spot in Cal Lutheran’s all-time top ten record book.

Nybo snatched first place in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. He shied just one tenth of a second away from automatically qualifying for the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) First All-America Team with his 200-yard freestyle time of 1:48.96.

Head Coach Barry Schreifels said he was absolutely thrilled with the performance at the meet and that the focus was trying to get the swimmers competing in their best events.

Rodarte not only won the 100-yard breaststroke, but also took home a CSCAA All-American title with a qualifying time of 54.61 seconds.

Gaitan had a win in his 100-yard backstroke event, beating the second place swimmer by ten seconds.

To finish off the day, Nybo, Gaitan, Blaauw and Kye Daniels came together and secured first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“I feel like our relays are really coming together and we’re getting more chemistry just by doing it a couple of times so I really get hyped up for those because it’s all of us working together” sophomore Regals swimmer Kyrie Fairbairn said in an in-person interview.