Cayla Nishizaki ’17
Claremont, Calif. (January 13, 2015)— SCIAC names Pitzer College student Cayla Nishizaki ’17 Female Athlete of the Week. Nishizaki swims freestyle and butterfly for the Sagehen Women’s Swimming and Diving team.
Last weekend, Nishizaki won all eight events she competed in (five individual and three relay), including sweeping the sprint freestyle events (50 and 100) on Friday and Saturday. Her top-place finishes helped the No. 14 Sagehen Women’s Swimming and Diving team rack up three wins, including a lopsided win over No. 7 Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday and a SCIAC sweep of Caltech and La Verne on Saturday.
In addition to the sprint freestyle wins, she won the 100-yard butterfly by just three-hundredths of a second in Saturday’s tri-meet, earning a first-place finish in her secondary event. She also anchored the 200-yard medley relay in the win over Stevens, taking over the final leg with a slim lead and extending the final margin to almost 1.5 seconds.
Nishizaki was also part of freestyle relay teams that capped off both meets with wins, including winning her 50-yard leg in Saturday’s 200-yard relay by over a second. Her 100-yard leg in Friday’s win over Stevens was three seconds faster than the competition.
Nishizaki is the second Sagehen swimmer to earn the honor this season, joining first-year distance freestyler Kelsey Thomas PO ’18, who won it in December after setting a school record in the 1650.
