The UC San Diego women’s swimming and diving team knocked off host Loyola Marymount University, 185-108, and CSU Bakersfield, 172-128, at the Burns Aquatic Center on Saturday. The Triton men beat CSUB, 160-139.
With the results, UCSD, ranked No. 4 in Division II, improves to 7-3 in dual meets. The seventh-ranked UCSD men are 5-3. The CSUB women (5-6) topped LMU (1-3), 158-134. The Roadrunner men dropped to 4-3.
Three Tritons turned in the fastest time in a pair of individual events. Sophomore Austine Lee on the women’s side swept the breaststroke races in 1:05.65 and 2:22.24. She led a 1-2-3 UCSD sweep in both events, ahead of Eva Chen (1:03.41) and Jaimie Bryan (1:04.14) in the 100, and again in front of Bryan (2:22.35) and Chen (2:22.52) in the 200. Lee was also second in the 50 free, sprinting (24.16) ahead of Colleen Daley in third (24.73), and led off the first-place 200 medley relay (1:46.91) to begin the meet, teaming with Bryan, Jaclyn Amog and anchor Daley.
Freshman Kevin Wylder hit the wall first in the 50 free (21.40) and the 100 butterfly (50.71). Cole Heale (21.49) and senior co-captain Jack Galvan (21.49) shared second place behind him in the 50, with Galvan later first in the 100 in 46.86.
Sophomore Zachary Yong placed first in the 200 breaststroke (2:08.34) in front of AJ Zavala (2:09.23) and Josh Lo (2:11.64), and later in the 200 individual medley (1:56.05), with Zavala (1:56.47) and freshman Kevin Fink(1:58.02) going 2-3. Zavala had himself won the 100 breast earlier in 58.48, with Yong third (59.62).
In the diving competition held at the Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center, Triton senior Adam Springer excelled with a first-place display at one meter, his score of 269.10 points a season best, and a third-place finish on the three-meter springboard (281.80).
Remaining Tritons with top marks included a pair of local products in Julia Toronczak (Santee/West Hills HS) and Michael Cohn (Solana Beach/Grossmont College) in the 200 back at 2:04.26 and 1:52.05, respectively. Stephanie Sin, like Toronczak a true freshman, was first to finish the 500 free in 5:07.71.
Galvan, Wylder, freshman Austin Takeda and sophomore anchor Julian Jacobs made up the winning men’s 400 free relay (3:05.96) to conclude the meet.
“Being able to go 3-0 against a pair of Division I opponents on the road in adverse conditions (persistent rain) is always nice,” remarked UCSD women’s head coach Corrie Falcon. “This was a pretty comfortable win against both LMU and CSU Bakersfield on the women’s side. There were any number of solid swims, but we really crushed them in the breaststroke, going 1-2-3 in both the 100 and 200. Austine Lee was probably our best swimmer today.
“On the men’s side, we were down coming out of diving, and figured we would probably have to win both the 200 individual medley and closing relay to beat Bakersfield. But Zach Yong’s in-season best in leading a 1-2-3 finish in the IM gave us some breathing room, and then the relay victory was icing on the cake. Zach had won the 200 breaststroke earlier, and told me right before the IM that ‘we’re going to go 1-2-3.’ To see him get that win in such a pressure situation was gratifying.
“Kevin Wylder also had maybe his best meet of the season. He’s getting better and better as he gets used to things at the collegiate level, and is starting to show the potential that we knew he had.”
UCSD now returns home to conclude the regular-season portion of its 2014-15 schedule. Both the men and women host nationally-ranked Division II foe California Baptist on Senior Day at the Canyonview Aquatic Center on Saturday, Jan. 17. The women will then welcome crosstown rival University of San Diego for one final dual on Saturday, Jan. 31. Both remaining home meets are slated for 12 p.m. start times.
