Swimming & Diving Senior Team Captain Jason Lee

Competing in the final meet of his collegiate career this weekend will be Senior Team Captain Jason Lee, the subject of this week's Student-Athlete Spotlight.

“[Athletics] has definitely made my time here much more enjoyable.” Lee said. “It creates a sense of balance between academics and the rest of it. If I didn't have athletics, I wouldn't have that balance.”

Before coming to Caltech, Lee hadn't played organized Water Polo. But by his Senior year, Lee not only tied for second on the team in scoring with 35 goals, he was named Team Captain.

Lee is obviously happy with his progress. “If I hadn't come to Caltech, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to pursue my athletic hobbies.”

Head Coach Clinton Dodd will miss Lee's contributions to aquatics. "As Captain of both the Water Polo and Swimming and Diving teams, Jason Lee is just a solid, dependable athlete and a joy to coach. He is well liked by his peers and coaches and I feel very fortunate to have him at Caltech and on my athletic teams. Jason just keeps on improving and is simply not satisfied with being just an average overachiever."

A Biology major, Lee plans to take a year off after graduating before applying to medical school.

Swimming & Diving Senior Team Captain Beth Dorman

January 24th, 2005
Swimming & Diving shocks La Verne; preps for SCIAC Championships

The Caltech Swimming & Diving program pulled off a tremendous upset this past weekend when the Men's team shocked their counterparts from the University of La Verne, 122-113.

Junior Ben Pelletier dominated the two diving events, with a 231.70 in the 3 Meter and a 226.55 in the 1 Meter. Freshman Tim Curran led a Caltech sweep in the 100 Backstroke, as Caltech swimmers finished 1-2-3 behind Curran's :57.67. Bert Lui came in second with a 1:03.40 and Jason Lee came in third with a 1:05.26. Caltech's wins by the 200 Medley Relay team of Lui, Jurczak, Zacharias and Flanagin, and the 200 Free Relay team of Oliver, Seidel, Flanagin and Curran were just enough to put the team over the top.

On the women's side, double wins by Junior diver Bekah Eason in the 1 and 3 Meter were not quite enough to pull off the same upset against a larger La Verne team. The Women's 200 Free Relay team came close to a win (losing by 3/10ths of a second) led by Senior Team Captain Beth Dorman's personal best time of :26.79.

The substantial effort against La Verne took its toll the following day against Redlands where the only win came from Curran in the 200 Back (2:03.49).

The team swims its regular-season finale at Occidental College next Saturday, February 5th.

The 2004-2005 SCIAC Conference Championships are February 17th-19th, and will be hosted by Redlands University at the Cerritos Community Pool.

Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week Freshman Tim Curran

January 17th, 2005
Athlete of the Week: Tim Curran

The Freshman from Phoenix, AZ had a brilliant three meets for the Caltech Aquatics program this past week.

Against Whitman College, Curran finished first in both the 50 Free (:23.23) and the 100 Back (:57.37). He also swam an impressive first leg of the 200 Medley Relay team.

At the Whittier/Cal Lutheran dual meet, he came in first in both the 200 Free (1:51.46), and the 100 Back while again contributing to the 200 Free Relay team.

Finally, against Claremont Mudd-Scripps, he cut his 50 Free time down to :22.50, good for second place. His 2:02.69 in the 200 Back was also good enough for second place, and he took part in the 400 Medley Relay.

Curran leads the rest of the team into action this Friday against La Verne.

Swimming & Diving swims three key meets against Whitman, Claremont M-S, and Whittier/Cal Lu

The Swimming and Diving team had several stellar performances this past week as they swam meets against Whitman, Whittier/Cal Lutheran and Claremont Mudd-Scripps.

Freshman Tim Curran had four first place and two second place finishes, in addition to swimming on three relay teams. For his performance, he was named Caltech's Athlete of the Week.

Ben Pelletier, Caltech's top Men's Diver, won the 1 Meter and 3 Meter events against Whitman, Whittier and Cal Lutheran. Against Claremont, he took first in the 1 Meter and 2nd in the 3 Meter. His top scores for the week were a 259.05 in the 1 Meter and a 235.35 in the 3 Meter.

Junior Bekah Eason likewise won the 1 Meter event in all three meets. She won the 3 Meter in the Whitman, Cal Lu and Whittier meets, coming in second against Claremont. Her top scores were 232.35 in the 3 Meter and 231.70 in the 1 Meter.

Senior Bert Lui scored points in several events for Caltech throughout the week. Against Whitman, Lui came in second in the 200 IM (2:19.72), and the 100 Back (1:04.48). He came in second in the 400 IM again against Cal Lutheran/Whittier, and had a 6:05.39 in the 500 Freestyle. He came in 4th against Claremont in both the 200 IM and the 200 Breast.

The team swims next this Friday against La Verne.

Swimming (Top) Senior Jason Lee (bottom) Senior Beth Dorman

January 10th, 2005
Swimming & Diving fights through the rain and Pomona-Pitzer

The Swimming & Diving team battled through torrential downpour this past Saturday, as they hosted Pomona-Pitzer in a conference meet.

Junior Diver Bekah Eason had the top finishes for Caltech, winning the 1 Meter and 3 Meter diving competitions.

Senior Peter Seidel came in second in the 100 Freestyle with a time of :54.45 and third in the 50 Freestyle, with a time of :24.04.

Senior Shannon Lewis came in second in the 1650 Freestyle with a time of 21:09.72. Lewis also posted a 1:20.93 in the 100 Backstroke.

Sophomore Max Zavodny came in second in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:26.71, and posted a third place finish in the 400 I.M. with a time of 4:55.74.

Senior Jason Lee came in second in the 1650 Freestyle with a time of 20:57.90. He also came in third place in the 100 Fly with a time of 1:00.17.

Sophomore Tom Jurczak competed in four events. He had a time of 2:27.61 in the 200 Free, a time of :24.59 in the 50 Free, a time of 1:08.22 in the 100 Breaststroke and swam the second leg of the 200 Medley Relay team which finished with a time of 2:13.18.

Senior Beth Dorman had a 1:24.97 time in the 100 Fly, a 6:42.46 in the 500 Freestyle, and was part of the 200 Medley Relay team that posted a time of 2:14.99.

Junior Lisa Seeman had a 1:19.86 in the 100 Breaststroke and a :30.09 in the 50 Freestyle. She was also part of the 200 Medley Relay team.

Having shown it can swim in any weather conditions, the team will host Whitman College this Tuesday at the Braun pool. The meet begins at 3:30 PM.

January 3rd, 2005
Season so far - Swimming & Diving: Gearing up for the main stretch

The Swimming & Diving team resumes their season schedule this Saturday at home in a conference meet against Pomona-Pitzer. This will begin the busiest portion of the team's schedule, as they'll compete at four different meets in eight days, including conference opponents Cal Lutheran, Whittier and Claremont Mudd-Scripps.

This year's team features a number of talented veterans and newcomers enjoying strong seasons. Among others, Senior Beth Dorman is setting personal best times in the 100 Yard Freestyle, and Freshman Tim Curran is already a danger to the school's record time in the 100 Yard Backstroke. The team should build up a lot of momentum for the conference championships Feb. 17-19.

December 6, 2004
Swimming & Diving at Claremont Invitational

The Swimming & Diving program had several strong individual performance at the 2004 Claremont Mudd-Scripps Invitational this past Friday and Saturday.

The Men's 400 Medley Relay team was less than two seconds off the school record with a time of 1:44.41.

Freshman Tim Curran made his early mark by placing third in the 100 Yard Backstroke (55.03 seconds) and fourth in the 200 Yard Backstroke (2:02.15). His 100 time was .06 off the school record set in 1996.

Men's Senior Captain Jason Lee had impressive performances in the Butterfly events, particularly with a time of :56.64 in the butterfly leg of the 400 Medley Relay.

Women's Senior Captain Beth Dorman had a personal best time in the 100 Yard Freestyle (:59.20)., seven-tenths of a second better than her time two days earlier.

Senior Burt Lui had a personal best in the 100 backstroke (1:01.98).

The team competes next in a home meet against Pomona-Pitzer on Jan. 8th.

November 29, 2004
Swimming & Diving opens season with split against Whittier

The Swimming & Diving program opened its season last Tuesday against Whittier College.

The Men's team triumphed over its Whittier opponents with a score of 170-43. The team dominated with wins by Sophomore Daniel Oliver in the 50 and 100 yard Freestyles, Freshman Tim Curran in the 200 yard Freestyle and 100 yard Backstroke, and Senior Jason Lee in the 100 yard Butterfly. All three were also members of the winning 200 yard Free Relay.

The Women's Team lost a nail-biter to Whittier, 108-114. Victories in the 3 Meter and 1 Meter Diving events by Junior Rebekah Eason, in the 100 yard Freestyle by Senior Captain Beth Dorman and the 100 yard Breaststroke by Lisa Seeman kept Caltech in contention until the very end.

The team will swim next this Friday-Saturday at the Claremont Mudd-Scripps Invitational. Their next home meet will be Saturday, January 8th against Pomona-Pitzer as they kick off their SCIAC schedule.

2004-2005 Season Preview
The Swimming and Diving program goes into the new year looking to improve on a strong 2003-2004 season. Despite the loss to graduation of Jacki Wilbur, who set 10 school records during her time at Caltech, the team returns with a talented core, many of whom peaked at the SCIAC Conference Championships. Junior Lisa Seeman had strong performances in the 100 and 200 Breastroke. Junior Rebekah Eason dove well, coming in 3rd place in both the 1 Meter and the 3 Meter in only her second year of competitive diving. For the Men, Sophomore Ben Pelletier came in second in the 3 Meter and third in the 1 Meter. Junior Jason Lee, Freshman Tom Jurczak and Freshman Daniel Oliver all had personal bests in several events. All three were part of the 5th place 200 Medley Relays team, and Lee and Jurczak were both part of Caltech's 5th place 400 Medley Relay team. With a strong incoming Freshman class, the team hopes to do even better this year.