The difference between victory and defeat is often a slender one, but for the Sagehens of Pomona and Pitzer, the winter of 2011–12 was a time of particularly nail-biting conclusions—none more so than in women’s swimming, where Alex Lincoln ’14 pulled off not one razor-thin victory, but two in as many days.
At the SCIAC swimming and diving championship, Lincoln won what seemed to be a once-in-a-lifetime race when she captured the 200-yard freestyle by a fingertip, edging Margo Macready of Redlands by four-hundredths of a second (1:54.27 to 1:54.31). However, the following day, she pulled off another photo finish by winning the 100-yard freestyle by five-hundredths of a second (52.21 to 52.26) over Chandra Lukes of Redlands, winning her second SCIAC individual title by a combined nine-hundredths of a second.
Not to be outdone, Pomona-Pitzer’s softball team turned heads with a 10-4 record in March as it emerged as a contender for the SCIAC crown, but what was even more impressive than the record was the way the Sagehens won many of those games. Six of the 10 wins came in their final at-bat, including five walk-off wins at home and an eight-inning win at Whittier. Kathryn Rabak ’13 was responsible for two of those walk-off wins, with a three-run homer in a 7- 6 win over Staten Island, and a line-drive RBI single in a 5-4 win over Cal Lutheran.
In men’s basketball, in front of overflow crowds, inter-consortium rivals Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer each earned wins on the other’s home court with less than a second remaining. CMS won the first meeting at Voelkel Gymnasium with a coast-to-coast lay-up with 0.6 seconds left, moments after Jack Klukas ’15 had tied the game with a three-pointer. In the rematch at Ducey Gymnasium, CMS took a two-point lead on a three-pointer with 10 seconds to go, but Kyle McAndrews ’15 was fouled shooting a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left and made all three pressure-packed foul shots for a 51-50 win. For the latest on Pomona-Pitzer sports, follow us on the web at www.sagehens.com.