Denver Splits With UC Davis

The University of Denver men’s team had three different double event winners and junior Blake Worsley (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) won three events, helping the Pioneers remain unbeaten in dual meets in the 2007-08 season with a 161-139 win over UC Davis Saturday afternoon. On the women’s side, DU had one of its finest performances of the season Saturday but fell just short, dropping a 157-141 decision to the Aggies.
 
Worsley opened his dominating afternoon with a win in the 500-free to the tune of more than a six second victory, winning with a time of 4:32.25. He followed that up with a win in the 200-freestyle (1:40.17) and grabbed his third win in the 50-free, winning that race with a time of 20.96.
 
DU’s second individual win of the afternoon was the first of two backstroke wins from junior Daniel Vollmer (Ajax, Ontario), who captured the 100-back in a time of 51.56. Vollmer later captured the 200-backstroke, winning that race with a time of 1:53.07.
 
The other double winner for the Pioneers Saturday was junior Nick Brunger (Castle Rock, Colo.), who grabbed his first win in the 100-breaststroke (57.82) and followed that up five races later with a win in the 200-breast, capturing that race with a time of 2:05.83.
 
DU’s final individual win of the afternoon came from freshman Garth Summers (Portland, Ore.), who won the 400-butterfly in an exciting race, winning with a time of 50.46, just edging UC Davis’ Daniel Donnely (50.65).
 
DU men’s divers swept both top spots in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions, as Aaron Feight (Englewood, Colo.) won both ends and Cody Stambaugh (Denver, Colo.) finished second in both.
 
On the women’s side, DU got two wins each from Kelsey Totura (Castle Rock, Colo.) and Katie Motsinger (Charleston, S.C.) and got three other individual wins and a host of second and third place finishes in what coach Schrader dubbed “the best meet of the year”.
 
Junior Michele Lowry (Hailey, Idaho) led off the meet in fine style for Denver, dominating the mile swim with a time of 17:07.82, winning by more than 16 seconds over teammate Lindsay Brown (Allen, Texas) as DU went 1-2-3 in that race.
 
Totura picked up her first win in the 200-freestyle (1:53.40) and followed that with a third-place swim in the 50-free. She later dominated the 200-backstroke, winning that race by more than four seconds with a time of 2:03.38.
 
After Totura’s win in the 200-free, Motsinger her first race by capturing the 100-backstroke in 58.69. She later held off a Davis swimmer in the 50-freestyle, winning that race by just nine one-hundredths of a second.
 
The Pioneers’ two other individual wins came from freshman Hayley Ettelson (San Diego, Calif.) in the 100-butterfly with a time of 57.52 and from Olivia Dean (Aurora, Colo.) in the 200-butterfly at 2:08.31.
 
“I thought we swam pretty well, today, both teams were up for the challenge,” Schrader said. “We had some great swims on the men’s side and the women had its best team performance of the season. I’m proud of the effort both teams put out there today.”
 
The swimming and diving teams are next in action next Saturday, Feb. 2 when the Pioneers  take on Colorado School of Mines at 11 a.m. in Golden.