UC San Diego student-athletes combined for six first-place event finishes as the Triton swimming and diving programs competed against tough NCAA Division I opposition Saturday afternoon at the Canyonview Aquatic Center.
The Triton women, ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division II, went 1-3 on the day and now have a 3-4 record in dual meets on the season. They topped former Division II rival Grand Canyon (4-5), 160-138. UCSD fell to Mountain West Conference sides UNLV (2-6), 186-112, Boise State (6-2), 198-101, and crosstown foe San Diego State (8-1), 179-114. The latter two of those programs have accounted for the last five Mountain West championships, with the Aztecs winning the title in 2011, 2013 and 2015, and the Broncos in 2012 and 2014.
The fifth-ranked UCSD men split the day at 1-1 and are at an even 2-2. The Tritons topped UNLV (0-6), 156-131, and held their own against Grand Canyon (5-1) before succumbing in the end, 161-137. The Antelopes are receiving votes just outside of the top 25 in the latest Division I national poll.
In other matchups on the women’'s side, Boise State (173-126) and San Diego State (167-126) both got past UNLV, with the Aztecs (188-105), and Broncos (202-97) both also defeating the Lopes. UNLV knocked off Grand Canyon, 184-114. BSU and SDSU did not get scored against each other. The GCU men beat the Rebels, 180-118.
Howie Chang had the initial first-place effort by a Triton on the day as he timed 9:43.60 in the 1000-yard freestyle, his best-ever mark in a dual meet. Fellow fourth-year senior Paul Li, now a second-year UCSD captain, closed out the meet in style for his side as he rallied the Triton 'A' foursome in the 800 free relay to first place in a pool-record 6:50.77, just ahead, in fact, of the UCSD 'B'. Li followed Michael Cohn, Chandler Pourvahidi and Michael Leung. The 'B', made up of Chang, Samuel Lee, Alejandro Ortiz and Austin Takeda, went 6:51.09.
Tritons swept the 200 backstroke with sophomore Julia Toronczak (Santee/West Hills HS) on the women's side in 2:01.49, and junior Michael Cohn (Solana Beach/Grossmont College) on the men's in 1:50.05. Toronczak's win was particularly impressive over pool record-holder Iryna Glavnyk of GCU (2:03.17).
The other two first-place finishers for UCSD were junior Zachary Yong (2:05.18) in the 200 breaststroke ahead of senior teammate AJ Zavala (2:06.49) in second, and Li in the 500 free (4:41.27). Sophomore Kevin Fink produced in incredible collegiate debut in the event out of the No. 1 lane against the wall, placing third in 4:43.33.
The remaining Triton women among the top three of Saturday's crowded, prominent field were sophomore Stephanie Sin (3rd, 1000 free, 10:30.62) and junior Jaimie Bryan (2nd, 100 breast, 1:05.76). The foursome of Toronczak, junior co-captain Natalie Tang, senior Maddy Huttner and senior anchor Dari Watkins were runners-up in the 800 free relay in 7:39.35 behind Boise State (7:35.47).
In women's diving, freshman Patty Sullivan was 15th off the one-meter springboard (194.80) and senior Allyson Cohen an identical 15th from three meters (198.85). Redshirt freshman Grant Crawford was the only Triton male participating, in fifth in both events, (194.10, 206.55).
Including the UCSD men's 800 free relay, a total of eight Canyonview pool records were eclipsed on Saturday, with four others by the Grand Canyon men, two by the Boise State women, and SDSU's Taylor Johnson equaling the 50 free mark (23.02).
The UCSD swimmers and divers continue the busiest portion of their season with more dual meets on Sunday, Jan. 3, welcoming Incarnate Word, Missouri S&T (men), San Diego State (women) and San José State (women). The action at the Canyonview Aquatic Center is set for an 11 a.m. start.
Boise State
The wins kept on coming for Boise State in San Diego as the swimming and diving teams followed up football’s Poinsettia Bowl win with a 3-0 performance at Saturday’s quad meet at UC San Diego. The Broncos defeated Mountain West foe UNLV (173-126), host UC San Diego (198-101) and Grand Canyon (202-97).
The Bronco divers return to action next weekend, traveling to Los Angeles for the Bruin Diving Invitational beginning Friday (Jan. 8) and concluding Saturday. The next combined meet for the team is a two-day affair in Salt Lake City against host Utah and UCLA from Jan. 15-16.
Boise State captured seven of the 16 events on the women’s side in a meet that also featured San Diego State. Freshman diver Cassidy Bose topped the field in the 3-meter competition with a score of 278.20, while swimming victories were picked up by Brittany Aoyama (100 fly, 55.07), Emma Chard (200 and 500 frees – 1:51.45 and 4:58.66, respectively), Amelia Draney (1,000 free, 10:17.68) and Sam Wicks (100 back, 56.67). Chard would lead the Broncos and share the lead for most victories among all women’s swimmers at the meet with three, as she was also part of Boise State’s victorious 800 free relay (7:35.47) alongside Aoyama, Blake Balogh and Felicity Cann.
Draney and Balogh went 1-2 in the 1,000 free, with Balogh finishing second in 10:28.15. The Bronco 200 medley relay also took second as Wicks, Laura Williams, Aoyama and Katelyn Martin clocked a 1:44.47, just 0.29 of a second behind San Diego State. Emily Mathis also turned in a runner-up finish, touching the pad in 2:20.66 in the 200 breast
Cann was third in the 200 free (1:52.36), Aoyama (23.84) and Martin (24.05) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 50 free, while divers Kacee Olson (249.10) and Karli Kriewall (248.10) were also third and fourth in the 1-meter competition. Olson also took third in 3-meter with a score of 268.90 while Wicks took third in the 200 IM (2:08.57).
UNLV
The UNLV men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed in their first meet of 2016 on Saturday afternoon, and the Rebel women would pick up a pair of victories in the multi-team competition hosted by UC San Diego.
"After coming off of a hard week of training we had some standout performances today," said UNLV interim head coach Bobby Folan. Ethan Klein had a great meet showing that his hard work is paying off. Michelle Troup and Lina Rathsack continue to lead our women's team, showing great toughness in their wins today."
UNLV topped the women's squads from UCSD by a 186-112 score and from Grand Canyon by a 184-114 margin. The Rebels would be on the other side of the score against both Mountain West teams in the meet, falling to San Diego State 167-127 and to Boise State 173-126.
Rathsack continued her strong season for the Rebels, as she won the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.98, and narrowly claimed the 200 breast by .37 seconds, posting a first-place swim of 2:20.29. She followed that with a win in the 200 IM in 2:07.10. Rathsack swam the breast leg on the third place 200 medley, where she was joined by Elena Gavrilova, Jessica Wong and Julia Fehervari.
Troup took first in the 100 free with a mark of 51.25, added a second place in the 200 free (1:52.08), and was on the third place 800 free relay along with Fehervari, Sydney Schuette and Kristina Hendrick.
Other top swims for UNLV started with Hendrick who was third in both the 100 breast (1:05.99) and 200 breast (2:21.07). Fehervari was second in the 50 free in 23.81, while Goezde Tekin placed second in both the 200 fly (2:05.68) and the 200 IM (2:07.47).
In the men's meet, UNLV was topped by the host UCSD team 150-118 and fell to Grand Canyon 170-109. Two Rebels won individual events. Dillon Virva claimed the 50 free in 20.34, while UNLV also took third and fourth in the event. Kasey Foley was the winner in the 100 free with a time of 46.12, and also finished third in the 50 free (20.94)
Other top swimmers included: Samuel Lameynardie, second in the 200 free (1:43.04) and third in the 100 free (46.75), Forrest Beelsey, third in the 100 breast (58.40) and 200 breast (2:09.32), Lucas James, second on the one-meter (282.70) and third-meter board (275.45), Klein, second in the 500 free (4:43.08) and Dylan Tarazona, second in the 100 fly (49.22). Caio Dini, Beesley, Tarazona and Virva made up the second place 200 medley relay squad.
UNLV is back in action on Saturday, Jan. 9 with another road meet, this time at UC Santa Barbara with an 11 am start.
