(Walnut) By John M. Sherrard –

Depth was the name of the game for the men as they extended their lead from 41 points in day one to a resounding 181 points after two days, while the women leapfrogged over Pasadena City College and now lead Cerritos by 26 points.

The women conference championship could be decided with the final relay of the day.

The Mt. SAC men totaled 565 points, while second place Long Beach City College has 384 points and third place Cerritos College has 302.

The men, who are closing in on their third consecutive title, had at least four scorers in three events which aided their cause and extended the lead after two days.

LBCC, however, had four individual winners but remained in second behind the Mounties a distant 181 points behind.

Highlighting the individual champions was sophomore Phillip Wright (Pacific Coast HS) winning his second SCC title in the three-day event in the 400 individual medley and for the women freshman Madeline Budds(Upland HS) won the 100 yard breaststroke.

Wright, who now has back-to-back championships in the 500 free and 400 IM, won in a time of 4:11.45, almost 20 seconds over the second-place finisher. Wright will attempt a trifecta with the 1650 (mile) on Saturday.

Budds, who is also a member of the 200 yard medley relay team (third place), became the first Mountie woman to win a title in the championships. She won with a time of 1:11.17, over two seconds faster than the second place finisher.

The second championship of the day for the men was the 800 yard free relay team (7:09.72), which included Wright, freshman Renen Devito (Glendora HS), freshman Isaiah Robertson (Walnut HS) and freshman Kyle Chang (West Covina HS).

In the grueling 400 yard IM, Mt. SAC's women freshman dual of Kaitlyn Dickinson (Chino Hills HS) and Shania Fontanilla (Roosevelt HS) finished two-three respectively.

In the men 1 meter diving, the freshmen tandem of Esteban Martinez (Walnut HS) and Anthony Teitlebaum(Pacific Palisades Charter School) finished three-four respectively.