UCSB Sweeps Pacific

UCSB

The UCSB swimming finished its tour of Northern California with a road win at the Pacific on Saturday afternoon. The men won big, defeating the Tigers, 165-89 while the women’s meet was much closer with the Gauchos edging out Pacific, 138-123.

The men’s team, which was coming off a tough loss on Friday at UC Davis, was ready to redeem itself, especially in 200 medley relay (the Gauchos had been disqualified in the event the previous day). The ‘B’ and ‘C’ relays came in the top two spots while the ‘A’ relay took third as an exhibition race. The ‘B’ relay took first at a quick 1:35.68 thanks to Shane Hurter, Walt Gault, Dan Morris and Kevin Kuhn.

The Gaucho women’s meet started off with a win in the 200 medley relay thanks to the ‘A’ relay of Katie Ure, Anne Marie May, Naomi Javanifard and Katie Stover (1:46.72).  After that win though, the women’s team struggled and didn’t capture another top finish until the 50 freestyle.

The men swept the 200 freestyle taking the top three spots. Hurter touched first with a time of 1:44.30, followed by Brandon Shilling (1:44.76) and Kuhn (1:45.80). After that event, the men swept again in the 100 backstroke with Joe Plume coming in first with a time of 53.56. Morris (53.65) and Chris Peterson  (53.79) finished just behind their teammate.

In the 50 freestyle, the UCSB women’s team swept the top four spots with Stover (24.16), Sasza Lohrey (24.28), Ure (24.38) and Katie Tomkinson (24.38) finishing first through fourth, respectively. Lohrey and Tomkinson took the top two spots in the following event as well, coming in at 52.42 and 53.32 in the 100 freestyle.

Stover had a great meet, picking up another first place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of (2:03.00). Ure came in right after her teammate with a time of (2:04.61).

Additional Gaucho men’s sweeps came in the 200 yard butterfly and the 50 freestyle. Ryan Garcia came in with a fast time of 1:52.24 followed by Chris Wiggin (1:52.51) and Kevin Ferguson (1:57.20) in the butterfly. Ryan Hanni (21.25), Tim Freeman (21.54) and Ferguson (21.57) took the top three spots in the freestyle.

The last event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, was a highlight for the women’s team with both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ relays coming in first and second, securing the win over the Tigers. The ‘A’ team of Ure, Olivia Plume, Lohrey and Javanifard came in with a time of 3:31.93. The ‘B’ team consisting of Emily Adamczyk, Emma Hunt, Tomkinson and Stover came in at 3:34.59.

The men finished out the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay as well with Garcia, Evan Simoni, Freeman and Peterson touching first with a time of 3:08.99.

The Gauchos will take a break from competition in the next several weeks as they prepare for the Big West Championships, which are being held Feb. 17-20 at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Calif.

Pacific Women

The women's swim team fell by a narrow margin of 138-123 to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, January 30. With the loss the Tigers fell to 4-8 on the season and the Gauchos improve to 7-2.

The meet marked the last home swim meet of the season, so seniors KC Albiston (Salt Lake City, Utah), Melissa McGhee (Elk Grove, Calif.), Devonie Migues (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.), and Brooke Cashion (Irvine, Calif.) were recognized for their four years swimming at Pacific.

In her first event of the afternoon, Albiston captured a first-place finish in the 1000 Free with a time of 10:27.53. Sophomore Jayme Swalin (Kenmore, Wash.) was the next Tiger to finish, taking fifth with a time of 10:40.60.

Posting a time of 1:55.87, sophomore Elena Walterman (Framingham, Mass.) touched less than one-tenth of a second before UC Santa Barbara's Olivia Plume to register a first place finish for the Tigers.

Migues earned her first top-finish in the 100 Back, with a time of 57.43. She had a third-place finish in the 100 Free with a time of 53.68. 

The Tigers took the top-three spots in the 100 Breast, with freshman Mallory McGowan (Colusa, Calif.) finishing first at 1:05.53. She was followed by freshman Zoe Coles (Vallejo, Calif.) at 1:08.90 and sophomore Lia Santini (Bothell, Calif.) at 1:08.96.

McGhee finished first in the 200 Fly with a time of 2:05.08 and Walterman was next at 2:06.24. Walterman posted her second first-place finish in the 100 Fly, with a time of 56.89.

Two Tiger seniors finished one-two in the 200 IM, with Migues touching at 2:05.76 and McGhee at 2:07.99.

With a time of 5:05.94 in the 500 Free, Albiston finished first, for her second of the day.
The Tigers will be back in action in Reno to take on the University of Nevada-Reno on Saturday, February 6 for a 1:00 pm start time.

Pacific Men

In the final home meet of the season the Pacific men's swim team was defeated by the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 165-89. With the loss the Tigers fall to 1-8 on the year while UC Santa Barbara improves to 6-2 on the year.

The 200 Medley Relay team made up by Kevin Byers (Puyallup, Wash.), Jonathan Alves (Davenport, Iowa), Chris Weber (Valencia, Calif.) and Steven Woods (Walnut Creek, Calif.) began the meet with a fourth place finish with a time of 1:37:66. Woods also finished second in the 100 Free (47.48) and fourth in the 50 Free (21.64). Rounding out the top five for Pacific in the 100 Free were freshmen Kevin Schirmer (Danville, Calif.), Balazs Szabo (Budapest, Hungary) and Erik Kauppinen (Pleasant Hill, Calif.).

In the 1000 Free Aljaz Ojstersek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) finished second behind Scott Vogelgesang of UC Santa Barbara, touching the wall in 9:50.08. Freshmen Zach Zlotoff (San Jose, Calif.) and Bart Platow (Westport, Conn.) finished back-to-back for the third and fourth place spots with times of 9:53.66 and 10:02.87 respectively.

Zlotoff, Ojstersek, Tyler Hannis (Santa Rosa, Calif.), and Platow finished second through fifth in the 500 free with times of 4:46.22, 4:47.23, 4:47.74 and 4:52.56 respectively. In the 200 Free senior Patrick Walton (Lodi, Calif.) had the Tigers best finish, coming in fourth touching the wall in 1:46.36 while freshman RJ Barton (Modesto, Calif.) rounded out the top five. Barton also finished second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:59.35. He was followed by Tiger teammates Byers in third (2:00.43) and Sean Dunnigan (Bel Air, Md.) in fifth (2:04.17).

Hannis and Byers finished back-to-back in the 100 Back to take the fourth and fifth place spots. Byers also claimed the second place spot in the 200 Back with a time of 1:56.30. Chris Berg (Chico, Calif.) came in third touching the wall in 2:02.27.

In the 100 Fly, Weber had Pacific's best finish coming in second with a time of 54.63. Junior David Hernandez (Chico, Calif.) and sophomore Joe Orr (Fresno, Calif.) came in third and fourth with times of 54.98 and 57.19 respectively.

The men's 400 Free Relay team consisting of Jack Pope (Lahaina, Hawaii), Szabo, Schirmer and Woods concluded the meet with a second place finish with a time of 3:15.62.

The Tigers honored seniors Garrett Murphy (Pleasanton, Calif.), Patrick Walton (Lodi, Calif.), Dave Mathews (Dublin, Ireland), Aljaz Ojstersek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Joey Rossi (Ceres, Calif.). Pacific returns to the pool Feb. 17-20 at the Big West Championships in Long Beach, Calif.