The Pacific men's and women's teams each fell to Cal Poly in their first home meets since the beginning of November. Pacific's men ended the meet with 103 points to Cal Poly's 156, while the women's team lost to Cal Poly 169-93. "Our men swam very well," said Head Coach Peter Richardson about having two meets in two days. "They had a chance to get the juices flowing yesterday."
Pacific's 200 Medley Relay teams swept the two races, with the women's team of Haley Preston, Kenna Ramey, Cristina Mardones, and Vaiva Gimbutyte swimming a 1:46.39. The men's team of Mitchell Ongstad, Jared Vu, Cameron Franke, and Miles MacKenzie finished in 1:31.47 but was disqualified due to an early jump. "A DQ in the relay deflates the whole meet [but] I was really proud of the way the guys stepped up...they showed a little more spark."
The men, lacking multiple A Team swimmers due to injuries, still won the 400 Free Relay behind MacKenzie, Lane Goedhart, Casey Fleming, and Georan Meendering. The team swam a 3:05.70. "We didn't need that DQ and we still would have won the relay...guys that are usually on the B Team stepping up and winning those relays says a lot."
Jana Burkard's year of excellent distance swims continued with a second place in the 1000 Free, coming in with a time of 10:49.44. On the men's side, Pacific's top time was Collin Craig, who swam a 9:59.16. Burkard also took third in the 200 Free with a time of 1:57.68 and third in the 500 Free with a 5:12.98.
The Tigers men took first and second in the 200 Free thanks to Meendering and Lee Ward. Meendering had a time of 1:42.55 and Ward had a time of 1:43.05.
Pacific shined the 100 Back as well, where Preston took second with a time of 58.66 and Isabella Green took third with a time of 59.74 for the women. Brandon Presswood won the event for the men, swimming a 51.51, just edging out Fleming, who took second with a 52.03. Fleming also finished second in the 200 Back with a 1:55.38.
For the 100 Breast, Pacific's Mardones took second with a time of 1:08.31. Franke had the men's best time with a third place finish of 59.97. In the 200 Breast, Mardones also had Pacific's best time with a second place 2:25.72. Mardones finished third in the 200 IM with a 2:10.92. Mardones shined for the women but Richardson said that "the women looked a little tired...we've just got to show a little more grit and a fire." Richardson was optimistic about the women's team's future, saying that the effort "will be there when it matters but we need to make sure we can turn it on."
Ramey followed up her 200 Medley Relay win with another win in the 50 Free, putting up a 24.16 time. MacKenzie and Ongstad finished second and third for the men with times of 20.98 and 21.21. The two men also swam well in the 100 Free, with MacKenzie taking second with a 46.10 and Ongstad getting fourth with a 47.29.
The Tigers won both the men's and women's 100 Fly. Ramey had a 57.31 to win it for the women and Vu had a 49.92 for the men. Richardson was particularly proud of Vu's day, citing him and MacKenzie as two of Pacific's excellent performers.
