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Pepperdine's Mosbaugh Wins PCSC 200 Breast Crown

UC San Diego

The UC San Diego men’s and women’s teams each wrapped up their seventh straight Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference (PCSC) crowns Saturday night at the Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center.

The four-day 2015 PCSC Championships concluded with the Triton women, ranked fourth nationally in the NCAA Division II, comfortably atop a 12-team field with 1453 points. Loyola Marymount was second with 1222. The fifth-ranked UCSD men compiled 1490 points to lead six other teams, with UC Santa Cruz second (1270).

“It is always satisfying to win a conference championship, and being able to get our seventh in a row in both the men’s and women’s division is particularly gratifying,” said UCSD women’s head coach Corrie Falcon. “We knew coming in that this year would be a little tougher, with several new teams with depth and top-end talent re-joining the conference. It was definitely rewarding to see that we still have both the depth and top-end talent to hold off the tougher competition.”

UCSD had six event winners during Saturday’s final session, with five individual conference champions and one relay. True freshman Stephanie Sin and Julia Toronczak (Santee/West Hills HS) won the 1650-yard freestyle and 200 backstroke, respectively. Sin’s time of 16:55.65 was a new school record, breaking Sophie Levy’s mark of 16:57.62 from the 2006 PCSC Championships. The Chatsworth product finished an incredible first conference meet with two titles, a second-place effort, and two school standards. She had also won the 1000 free in record time on Wednesday night. Toronczak went 1:59.14 for her first PCSC victory.

“Coming into this year, the 1650 freestyle was a newer event for Stephanie, but she’s really developed over the past six months and dropped nearly 30 seconds,” remarked Falcon about Sin. “Her school records in the 1000 and 1650 have stood since 2006 and were set by someone (Sophie Levy) who was an NCAA champion, so this is quite an accomplishment for her as a freshman. I knew she was going to be good, but not this good.

“Julia trailed the girl from LMU through the 150(-yard) mark, but she started building and building, stroke by stroke, until they went under the flags and she was able to out-touch her at the wall. It was the second-best time ever at UCSD, behind Alex Henley. Not too bad.”

Remaining winners included sophomore newcomer Michael Cohn (Solana Beach/Grossmont College) in the men’s 200 back (1:46.59), and captains Colleen Daley (50.99) and Jack Galvan (44.70) sweeping the 100 free sprints in personal-record times. Cohn, who fell just short of his own school standard of 1:46.04 from last November, had already won the 200 free on Friday night, with Daley the 2014 PCSC champion in the 50 free. Galvan is a first-time individual winner.

“Michael did what he’s been doing all year,” said men’s head coach Daniel Perdew. “He’s been incredibly consistent . You knew it was his race in the first 25 yards.

“On the blocks, it was kind of a funny visual,” went on Perdew about Daley. “Colleen’s something like 5-foot-4, not your typical sprinter size-wise. She got out quick and I’m sure a lot of people were surprised to see her win. The biggest thing was having her break 51.00, even though it was only 50.99. Getting through that barrier was huge. Winning was secondary.”

Finally, UCSD completed the meet with a first-place effort in the men’s 400 free relay, as the foursome of Michael Leung, Kevin Wylder, Cole Heale and senior anchor Galvan going 3:00.46 to win with ease by more than three seconds over FPU.

“Jack had a tough first couple of days,” said Falcon of Galvan. “I think he puts a lot of pressure on himself, both personally, and as a leader on our team. When he just let go and enjoyed it, like he did tonight, he was able to break through and turn in a couple of fantastic performances. His 100 free time tonight was the second best in school history behind Dan Perdew, who was a five-time NCAA champion. In the 400 freestyle relay, after Cole (Heale) closed the gap on the third leg, Jack’s anchor was amazing. It was a great way for him to finish up the meet. He wanted it so bad.”

Sin and sophomore Chandler Pourvahidi shared Swimmer of the Meet honors on the women’s and men’s sides, as joint top point-getters over the four days. Both Tritons finished with 92 points from two wins and a second-place showing over their maximum three individual finals. Sin was tied with LMU senior Kjirsten Magnuson, while Pourvahidi, the PCSC champion in the 1000 and 500 free, was equaled by Wesley Coles of Fresno Pacific. Cohn was right behind those two with 91 points.

Pourvahidi was second in his final race of the meet on Saturday, in the 1650 (15:36.62) behind Coles (15:34.14), with fellow sophomore Sasha Mitrushina third (15:47.79). Freshman Haley Hamza (17:17.35) was second on the women’s side. Freshman CJ Pais (1:49.51) and junior Alex Moshensky (1:49.98) went 2-3 behind Cohn in the 200 back. Zachary Yong and Paul Li hit the wall second in the 200 breast (2:00.53) and 200 fly (1:50.23), respectively. Juniors Heale (100 free, 45.51) and Naomi Thomas (200 fly, 2:03.48), and sophomore Jaimie Bryan (200 breast, 2:16.74) posted third-place finishes.

The women’s 400 free relay of Maddy Huttner, Natalie Tang, Catherine Woo and Daley as the anchor teamed up to go 3:26.42 for second place behind LMU (3:25.96).

The UCSD men and women will now await the announcement in coming days of the official qualifier list for the 2015 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships next month in Indianapolis, Ind.

Triton Notes: Through the four days of competition, UCSD compiled 20 wins (15 individual, five relay), three NCAA automatic qualifying swims (two individual, one relay), four school records (all individual), and at least five meet marks (three individual, two relay).

 

Pepperdine

The Pepperdine swimming and diving team concluded the year at the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships today, placing seventh overall. Junior Jessica Mosbaugh put the finishing touches on a spectacular meet, winning the 200 breaststroke for the second-straight season.

The Waves scored 643 points, led by Mosbaugh (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) with 85. She was the seventh-highest individual scorer in the entire field of over 150 student-athletes.

Mosbaugh was crowned the PCSC champion in the 200 breaststroke for the second year in a row. She won in 2014 as a sophomore behind a Pepperdine record time of 2:16.04. In true Mosbaugh fashion, the now junior obliterated her previous record by well over a second, finishing in a time of 2:14.57. She beat her nearest competitor by nearly the same margin.

Her time met the NCAA B standard. She also met the B standard in the 100 breaststroke yesterday.

Lauren Stigers (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay HS) placed 21st in the finals (2:29.53).

Although they did not advance to the finals, Emma Fitzsimmons (Southport, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe HS), Amanda Rowe (Reno, Nev./McQueen HS) and Katie Giacobbe (Duluth, Ga./Greater Atlanta Christian School) also swam their fastest 200 breaststroke races of the season. Rowe’s time of 2:44.25 went down as a personal-best.

After breaking the 200 freestyle record yesterday, Allison Naasz (Lodi, Calif./Tokay HS) had her sights set on the 100 today. The junior first clocked a 52.23 in the prelims to enter the finals as the fifth seed. She moved up two spots after hitting the wall in 51.51, just .22 shy of the program record, but still good enough for second place on the all-time charts.

This is the first time Naasz has earned All-PCSC acclaim in the 100 freestyle, having placed 10th last season.

Naasz scored 69 individual points at the conference championships, ranking 23rd overall.

Laura Graziano (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic HS) also reached the finals of the 100 freestyle and delivered a 32nd-placed PR time of 54.60.

Sabrina Altman (Kula, Hawaii/Seabury Hall) placed 13th in the finals of the 200 backstroke behind a personal-record time of 2:09.51. The freshman moved up two spots after taking 15th in the prelims.

Abby Crawford (Weddington, N.C./Weddington HS) swam a 2:19-flat in the prelims before charting a season-best 2:16.40 in the finals – good enough for 21st place. Blair Kacynski (Superior, Colo./Monarch HS) took 24th overall with a time of 2:21.38 (season-best 2:19.70 in prelims).

Cailey Stuebner (Los Altos, Calif./Mountain View HS) and Elena Witham (Buena Vista, Colo./Houston County HS) swam in the non-scoring heats and delivered season-best times of 2:22.01 and 2:19.68, respectively.

Erin Himes (West Chester, Pa./Unionville HS) led the charge in the 1,650 freestyle. The sophomore lowered her personal-best time to 18:18.66 to place 15th.  Heather Connelly (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge HS) followed in 17th with a race of 18:44.56.

After clocking a season-best 2:14.16 in the prelims of the 200 butterfly, Nicolette Barreiro (Valencia, Calif./Hart HS) placed 21st in the finals (2:16.48).

Kelly Presper (Irmo, S.C./Hammond School) lowered her personal-best 200 fly swim to 2:24.97.

The meet ended with the 400 freestyle relay. Naasz, Connelly, Graziano and Mosbaugh placed eighth after hitting the wall in a time of 3:36.13 -- the fastest of any Wave quartet this year by over 10 seconds.

With the exception of Mosbaugh, the PCSC Championships conclude the 2014-15 season for Pepperdine.

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