Pepperdine
After a fast start yesterday, the Pepperdine swimmers continued to lower their season-best times today at the A3 Performance Meet. Allison Naasz clocked the Waves’ fastest flat time of the season in the 100 butterfly, while Amanda Rowe broke two personal records by over three seconds.
Nearly all times turned in on Friday by Pepperdine went down as season-best times.
“The team is doing exactly what we set out to do,” said head coach Nick Rodionoff. “They are swimming well against some of the best competition out there, which sets us up to be successful at the end-of-season championships.”
Naasz (Lodi, Calif./Tokay HS) clocked the Waves’ first sub-1 minute flat time in the 100 butterfly of the season, setting a new personal record in the process. Her final time of 59.60 was over three seconds faster than her previous PR.
The junior went on to lower her all-time fastest mark in the 100 backstroke as well with a time of 1:02.12.
Rowe (Reno, Nev./McQueen HS) has been a force to be reckoned with this season. After sitting out 2013-14 following brain surgery, the now-junior is back in form and lowering her times in various events almost daily. She first shattered her previous collegiate-best time in the 100 butterfly by over three seconds, recording a mark of 1:07.49. She led off the race with a 50 split time of 29.85 – also a PR.
Rowe’s second personal record of the day came in the 100 breaststroke. The junior shaved off three seconds from her previous all-time best, stopping the clock at the 1:14.66 mark.
In addition to Naasz and Rowe, all five of their teammates swam for season-best times in the 100 butterfly. Codie Cox (Sonoma, Calif./Maria Carrillo HS/Santa Rosa JC) followed Naasz with a time of 1:01.12, while Lauren Stigers (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay HS) clocked at 1:01.82. Blair Kacynski (Superior, Colo./Monarch HS) turned in a time of 1:03.27. Both Kelly Presper (Irmo, S.C./Hammond School) and Elena Witham (Buena Vista, Colo./Houston County HS) finished the race in sub-1:07 times.
Erin Himes (West Chester, Pa./Unionville HS) dropped her personal record in the 200 freestyle for the second day in a row, recording a 2:05.71. Heather Connelly (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge HS) became the second Pepperdine swimmer this season to break through the 2-minute barrier (1:58.56), while both Laura Graziano (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic HS) and Abby Crawford (Weddington, N.C./Weddington HS) set new season-best times as well.
The season-best times continued to pour in with the 100 breaststroke race. Stigers was the first Wave to hit the wall, recording a season-best time of 1:08.86. Rowe was followed by Cailey Stuebner (Los Altos, Calif./Mountain View HS) with a time of 1:15.23. Presper followed just over three-tenths of a second later. Rachel Wilt (Wenatchee, Wash./Wenatchee HS) and Katie Giacobbe (Duluth, Ga./Greater Atlanta Christian School) were also impressive, clocking times of 1:18.35 and 1:20.04, respectively.
All six Wave representatives in the 100 backstroke charted their fastest swims of the season. Sabrina Altman (Kula, Hawaii/Seabury Hall) paced Pepperdine with a 59.90, and now tops the Waves’ season performance list in the event. After Naasz were Cox (1:03.43), Crawford (1:04.37), Witham (1:04.56) and Stuebner (1:08.11).
The A3 Performance Meet concludes on Saturday.
UC San Diego
A win in the men’s 200 medley relay was the highlight for UC San Diego on day two of the 2014 A3 Performance Invitational on Friday.
UCSD is serving as the host of the three-day meet, the top competition on its fall schedule annually, for the sixth successive year, with East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium the venue for the second straight edition. Swimwear manufacturer A3 Performance is the new title sponsor.
The Triton men have accumulated 834.5 points through 12 of 18 events and remain in second behind UC Santa Barbara, the Gauchos still pacing the eight-team field with 1236 points. Cal Poly is in third (785.5). Among 15 squads on the women’s side, UCSD moved up from seventh after day one to sixth now at 359 points. Defending meet champion San Diego State continues to lead with 803. The top-tier collegiate invitational is made up primarily of NCAA Division I programs.
The UCSD foursome of senior Sean Malley, junior AJ Zavala, freshman Kevin Wylder and junior anchor Cole Heale timed a season-best 1:30.09 to win the 200 medley relay at the start of the evening session, narrowly besting Division I foes UC Santa Barbara (1:30.48) and CSU Bakersfield (1:30.74) and achieving an NCAA B cut.
Malley (49.34) and Wylder (50.13) later went 6-7 in the championship final of the 100 butterfly. Malley’s 48.95 in prelims moved him up to No. 6 all-time at UCSD.
Julian Jacobs was the runner-up in the 100 backstroke in 50.26, with fellow sophomore Chandler Pourvahidi sixth in 50.85. Jacobs had turned in the second-fastest time in the morning (50.53) as well, also behind UCSB’s winner Billy Mullis.
The Triton women’s 200 medley relay of sophomores Austine Lee and Jaimie Bryan, senior Jaclyn Amog and junior co-captain Colleen Daley went a season-best 1:44.40 for sixth place and an NCAA consideration qualifier.
In the men’s 400 individual medley, junior co-captain Paul Li represented the Tritons in the championship final with a seventh-place effort in 3:57.74, while teammates Kyle Nadler (3:59.66), Zachary Yong (4:01.43) and Kevin Fink(4:02.66) went 1-2-3 in the consolation final for ninth through 11th overall, respectively.
Fourth-year senior Eva Chen (1:03.61) and junior Lilly Parks (1:04.19) were 6-7 in the 100 breaststroke. Both were slightly quicker in prelims, and both have B cuts.
Howie Chang, like Li a junior, hit the wall seventh in the final of the 200 free (1:41.48), with sophomore Michael Cohn (Solana Beach/Grossmont College) winning the consolation race for ninth overall in 1:40.78, more than a second faster than his prelim time (1:41.79). Chang’s morning swim of 1:40.09 was better.
UCSD competed in the 800 freestyle relay for the first time this season to conclude the Friday activity, with both of the Tritons’ fastest foursomes producing NCAA consideration qualifiers. Li, Chang, Cohn and Austin Takeda went 6:43.38 for fourth. Natalie Tang, Stephanie Sin, Dari Watkins and Catherine Woo combined for a 7:32.79 mark and sixth.
The USC men (6:27.00) and women (7:11.63) easily swept the 800 free relays in a meet and pool-record time, respectively.
Other top individual finishers for UCSD included juniors Naomi Thomas (100 fly, 11th, 55.71), AJ Zavala (100 breast, seventh, 56.88) and Maddy Huttner (400 IM, 25th, 4:32.61), Sin (200 free, 26th, 1:50.87) and fellow freshman Julia Toronczak (100 back, 14th, 57.28).
Chen (4:31.50) and Bryan (4:32.20) turned in season-best, NCAA B cut times in morning prelims of the 400 IM, but both were pulled out of evening finals to focus on other events.
Fresno State
The Fresno State swimmers fell to eighth after day two at the A3 Performance Invitational on the campus of East Los Angeles College.
Esme Gullick had the best finish of the day for the ‘Dogs with a fourth place performance in the 400 IM. The sophomore from England swam a season-best 4:23.88, topping her previous season-best time by almost 12 seconds. Junior Kelly Simmons swam a 4:33.17 to finish 21st. In the prelims, Simmons swam a 4:32.79 to post a personal-best time.
Gullick was also a member of the Fresno State 200 Medley Relay team that included Brooke Rodriguez, Tarryn Rennie and Leah Hatayama and finished eighth with a time of 1:45.40.
Rennie, a sophomore from Zimbabwe, swam a personal-best in the 100 Fly with a time of 56.78 in the prelims. She swam a 57.38 in the finals to finish 21st.
