Undefeated S'women Give Coach Dean Win #200
By Robin Kirschbaum
Contributing Writer

Friday, January 24th marked an important meet for the Women's Swimming and Diving team. Not only did the team face the CMS Athenas at a cold and difficult night meet, but the win would mark a major accomplishment for coach Penny Lee Dean, a record 200 wins in dual meet competition. Coach Dean has been head coach of the Pomona-Pitzer swim team since 1979, following her own record-setting career at Pomona and success in open water swimming. Under her direction, the team has won 17 SCIAC Championship titles and sent swimmers to nationals every year. The S'women Sagehens beat the Athenas with a score of 131-112 with many season and personal best times. The 400 Medley Relay team of Kathleen Foley '06, Michelle Adams '04, Valerie Stout '05, and Jennie Marble '05 started the meet off with an impressive win against a strong CMS lineup. Foley also won the 200 backstroke, Stout took the 200 IM and the 200 breastroke, and captain Jessie Neufeld '03 won the 200 butterfly. Elena McDermott '06 won the 1650 freestyle with a national "b" qualifying time of 17:31, as well as winning the 500 and 200 freestyle events.

The win passed without recognition due to a miscount of dual meet wins, both swimmers and coach believing that the following meet against Whittier would be the 200th. "It's a good thing we did miscount," says Coach Dean, "because I don't think I would have wanted the added pressure." With a current count of 203 wins, including wins against Whittier, La Verne and Redlands, the team remains undefeated going into the SCIAC Championships on February 20-22 in Cerritos.