The Pacific women and Denver men snared the Pacific Invitational titles this weekend in Stockton.
Scores
Women
Pacific, 706
San Jose State, 676
Fresno State, 653
Air Force, 617
Fresno Pacific, 434
Men
Denver, 788
Air Force, 649.5
Stanford, 578
Pacific, 459
California, 317
Fresno Pacific, 269.5
Denver Press Release
STOCKTON, Calif. – The University of Denver men’s swimming team won its opening meet of the season, taking the Pacific Invitational crown with 788 points.
Swimmers from Stanford and California Berkley joined the second day of the meet, but did not compete yesterday.
Denver opened the morning swim with a third place finish in the 400 medley relay. Junior Anton Loncar (Hillsboro, Ore.), senior Tim Cottam (Sydney, Australia), junior Ben Ussery (Austin, Texas) and senior Kyle Robrock (Savage, Minn.) combined for a time of 3:20.05 in the first event of the day.
Ussery, senior Andrew Torres (Arvada, Colo.), freshman Colin Gilbert (Kamloops, B.C.) and sophomore Kyle Ewoldt (Gilbert, Ariz.) finished 6-9 behind the pair of Pac 12 schools in the 200 butterfly to earn 39 points for the Pioneers.
Robrock touched fourth out of 50 swimmers in his first individual event of the morning, completing the 100 freestyle in 45.34.
Cottam led the Pioneers in the 200 breaststroke, clocking at 2:03.19, good for 13 points and a sixth place finish. Senior Travis Greenwald (Wilton, Iowa) also scored in the event, earning a spot in the top half with a 13th place finish (2:05.86).
Gilbert earned 13 points of his own in the 500 free as the Denver rookie touched at 4:32.17. Smith was three spots behind Gilbert in ninth to earn nine points for Denver with a time of 4:40.32.
Torres finished just behind a Pac 12 trio in fourth with a time of 49.24 in the 100 butterfly, while Ussery rounded out the top 10 in the event at 50.22.
Denver’s 200 free relay beat out Stanford and was just over a second behind California to earn 34 points with a second place finish on Saturday morning.
In the distance swim of day two, Gilbert finished third in the 1650 free with a time of 15:44.37. Freshman Warren Sexson (Mahtomedi, Minn.) finished fifth at 16:03.94 and junior Alex Walton (Atlanta, Ga.) touched sixth in 16:12.30.
Pacific Press Release
Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Invitational came to a close today, with the women's team winning on overall points and the men's team finishing in fourth. The women took the meet with 706 points, 30 points more than second-place San Jose State. The men finished with 459 points, behind Denver, Air Force, and Stanford.
After winning both relays last night, the women started Saturday with a third-place finish in the 400 Medley Relay. Isabella Green, Semaj Walker, Kenna Ramey, and Vaiva Gimbutyte combined to swim a 3:56.02.
The top time in that relay for the men came from the team of Angel Alcala, Yahav Shahaff, Jared Vu, and Miles MacKenzie. That group put up a 3:30.15.
Pacific's 200 Free Relay team also placed, taking second thanks to Ramey, Gimbutyte, Becca Aguilar, and Meredith Lillie. That group put together a time of 1:36.50 in the relay. The men took fifth in that relay with a 1:23.31 behind Mitchell Ongstad, Josh Owens, Shahaff, and MacKenzie.
Next up was the 200 Fly, which saw Whitney Jorgensen and Taylor Hosmer both place. Jorgensen finished in second with a 2:07.63 time while Hosmer finished just over half a second behind her at 2:08.20.
Jorgensen won the 200 IM as well to add to her great day as she swam a 2:06.92 in that event. The senior also finished in fifth in the 200 Breast with her time of 2:25.35.
Meanwhile, Hosmer took second in the 500 Free when she swam a 5:03.86, only three seconds behind the leader. Hosmer was one of several freshman with great days, as Brigid McNally swam a 17:53.09 in the 1650 Free to take sixth just ahead of teammate Kira Thomas.
The women's powerful showing continued when Gimbutyte won the 100 Free with a 52.61, two-tenths of a second faster than second place. Ramey took forth in that with a 53.01 as she missed third place by just .02 seconds. Ongstad swam a 46.22 for the top time by the men.
Ramey also had a second-place finish in the 100 Fly, the event in which she set the program record last year. Ramey swam a 56.58 today to take second while Gimbutyte finished with a 58.18 to end up just a few spots behind Ramey.
Pacific will head to Fresno State for their next meet on November 12. That meet will feature Pacific as well as Fresno State, UC Santa Cruz, and Fresno Pacific.
Stanford Press Release
STOCKTON, Calif. – The Stanford men’s swimming and diving team opened its 2016-17 season on Saturday at the Pacific Invitational, hosted by the University of the Pacific.
“Today was a really nice mix of events for our first day of the season,” said Goldman Family Director of Swimming Ted Knapp. “It was a great road trip for the team and we are very excited about how our freshmen raced.”
The day started with the 400-yard medley relay. Stanford’s A-squad of Ryan Dudzinski, Matt Anderson, Andrew Liang and Spencer DeShon (3:19.34) took second, while Stanford’s B-team of Patrick Conaton, Hank Poppe, Sam Perry and James Murphy (3:22.44) placed sixth.
Stanford took four of the top spots in the 200-yard butterfly, with Jimmy Yoder (1:48.09) second, Abrahm DeVine (1:48.82) third, William Macmillan (1:48.97) fourth and Tom Kremer (1:50.50) fifth.
Perry, the reigning Pac-12 100-yard freestyle champion, won the event with a time of 44.15. Murphy (45.33) finished third, Spencer DeShon (45.43) took sixth while Andrew Liang (45.63) was eighth.
Maxwell Williamson (2:01.12) won the 200-yard breaststroke, with Anderson (2:02.57) finishing fifth.
Stanford swept the top five spots in the 500-yard freestyle, led by True Sweetser (4:21.84), who finished nearly seven seconds ahead of the field. DeVine (4:28.81), Liam Egan (4:30.20), Kremer (4:30.60) and Murphy (4:30.98) rounded out the top five.
Perry (48.68) added a runner-up finish in the 100-yard butterfly, while Liang (48.79), Brad Zdroik (49.68) and Yoder (50.03) finished third, sixth and eighth, respectively.
Stanford filled out five of the top eight in the 200-yard individual medley – Abrahm DeVine (1:48.15) took the top spot with Williamson (1:49:89) third, Curtis Ogren (1:50.39) fourth, Kremer (1:50.99) sixth and Justin Buck (1:53.23) eighth.
Stanford’s team of Perry, Dudzinski, Zdroik and Yoder (1:23.25) finished third in the 200-yard freestyle relay while DeShon, Cole Cogswell, Benjamin Ho and Hank Poppe (1:24.18) were sixth.
Sweetser (15:03.04) won the final event of the meet, the 1,650-yard freestyle, with Liam Egan (15:26.99) in second.
Despite only competing on the second day of the two-day event, Stanford’s 578-point total was good for third place behind Denver and Air Force.
Fresno State Press Release
STOCKTON, Calif. – Fresno State finished third in the University of the Pacific's Fall Invitational Saturday afternoon. UOP (706) took first place in the invitational, followed by San Jose State (676) in second and Fresno State (653). Air Force (617) finished in fourth place and Fresno Pacific (434) finished sixth.
The Bulldogs came out strong after a disappointing first day of competition.
"Friday was a tough day for us," said head coach Jeanne Fleck. "I was disappointed in our performance, especially in the relays. We came out today and fought back from a big deficit. I was much happier with our performance today."
Day two started with the 400 Medley Relay. Fresno State relay team of Ugne Mazutaityte, Manuela Mendolicchio, Esme Gullick and Katelin Britton took second place (3:54.57). Kali Conlon, Hailee Baldwin, Kimberly Harbert and Hannah Jarvis also finished in the top ten, coming in eighth (4:01.57).
Four Bulldogs finished within the top ten of the 200 Butterfly. Esme Gullick finished in fourth place (2:08.23) and Natalia Nienaltowska finished right behind in fifth (2:08.78). Kimberly Harbert took ninth place (2:10.46), followed by Gabbie Libang in tenth (2:10.90).
Senior Hannah Jarvis was the sole Bulldog to finish within the top ten of 100 Freestyle with a time of 53.94 (10th).
"Manuela had a great meet, finishing first in both breaststroke events," said Fleck. "She was a key addition in the 400 Medley Relay as well."
Freshman Manuela Mendolicchio finished first (2:17.40) in the 200 Breaststroke for the second consecutive meet. Hailee Baldwin took third place (2:24.57) and Kelly Simmons finished ninth (2:28.34).
As for the 500 Freestyle, Kelly Simmons (5:05.83) placed fourth followed by Ugne Mazutaityte(5:06.04) in fifth. Emily Niles also finished in the top ten with a time of 5:09.70 (7th).
Senior Esme Gullick led the Bulldogs in the 100 Butterfly finishing sixth (58.05).
Manuela Mendolicchio led the Bulldogs in the 200 IM with a fourth place (2:10.77) finish. Esme Gullick took seventh (2:11.66) and Gabbie Libang finished eighth (2:12.49).
In the 200 Freestyle Relay, two Fresno State teams finished in the top ten. Hannah Jarvis, Katelin Britton, Tarryn Rennie and Kali Conlon finished in fifth place with a time of 1:37.92. Samantha Giannetta, Kimberly Harbert, Hunter Winslow and Ally Short took seventh place with a time of 1:41.20.
Freshman Natalia Nienaltowska finished second (17.27.50) in the 1650 Freestyle followed by fellow freshman Emily Niles in fifth (17:52.94).
"I'm looking forward to our dual meet next weekend," said Fleck. "We need to compete in every single event. We can't allow Nevada to shut us out, we need to win some events and be competitive in all events."
The Bulldogs return home on Oct. 29 at 12 p.m. PT for a dual meet against reigning Mountain West Champions, Nevada.
Air Force Press Release
The Air Force men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams split into two different squads at two different venues, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 21-22. Most of the younger swimmers stayed home for a dual meet with Colorado Mines while the upperclassmen travelled to Stockton, Calif., for the Pacific Invitational, Oct. 21-22.
At the Pacific Invitational, the men’s team placed second with 649.5 points and the women placed fourth with 617 points. Denver won the men’s tournament with 788 points while Stanford was third, Pacific was fourth, Cal was fifth and Fresno Pacific was sixth. Pacific won the women’s meet with 706 points. San Jose State was second, Fresno State was third and Fresno Pacific was fifth.
At the Pacific Invite, the men’s team opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay as the team of Joey Gebhart, Zach Knoche, Steffen Mount and Jordan Dahle won with a time of 1:31.52. Dahle was second in the 200 free (1:40.97) while Michael Hannigan was third (1:41.72). Andrew Faciszewski was second in the 400 IM (4:02.84). In the 50 free, Dahle placed second (20.78) and Mount was third (20.83). Air Force closed out the meet by winning the 400 free relay as the team of Lars Knutson, Michael Hannigan, Steffen Mount and Jordan Dahle posted a time of (3:01.49).
On the women’s side, Genevieve Miller won the 200 free (1:52.44), the 500 free (5:00.47 and the 1650 free (17:03.59). The senior team captain was also third in the 400 IM (4:31.66). Freshman Autumn Wolfgramm was third in the 100 back (58.74). Lydia Knutson was third in the 50 free (24.14). Jinan Andrews was second in 100 free (52.83). In the 200 IM, Andrews was second (2:09.16) and Jayden Glover was third (2:10.16)
