Fresno Pacific Press Release
Fresno Pacific captured five victories and set a new school record on Friday as the Sunbirds continued action at the 2017 Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC) Championships.
The four-day meet is being held at the East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium. The Sunbirds are in second on both the men's side and the women's after the third day of competition. The men have 1,040 points, while the women have 794.5. UC San Diego holds the lead on both sides.
The new school record set the tone of the day, as the women's 400 medley relay touched at 3:44.35 for a victory in the first swim of the night. The relay of Olga Melnikova (56.5), Daria Belova (1:01.2), Bavindeep Basra (55.5) and Laura Fornshell (50.9) set the mark.
Individually, Belova defended her title in the 100 butterfly with a winning touch of 54.14.
Other strong swims came from Basra, who took second in the 400 IM with a time of 4:24.28, and Melnikova, who came in at fourth in the 100 backstroke with a touch of 56.93.
On the men's side, the 400 medley relay of Luka Barisic (50.0), Maxim Shcherbakov (54.15), Aleksei Averchenko (48.29) and Dmitry Belolipetskiy (44.15) also defeated UCSD with a time of 3:16.59 to give the Sunbirds a clean sweep.
Shcherbakov then defended his title in the 100 breaststroke with a touch of 54.62. Alex Shibata came in at fifth (57.53) and was followed by Matheus Misquito in sixth (57.79) in the event.
The final individual victory came from Barisic, who won the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.86. Teammate Callen Bruening took fourth at 51.71 and Dakota Loew-Garrelts was seventh at 53.79.
The Sunbirds also received important points from Averchenko, who took second in the 100 fly at 48.05. The touch is second quickest in FPU history. Belolipetskiy followed in sixth at 49.33.
Austin Hussain also placed second in the 200 freestyle (1:39.58), finishing behind defending champ Michael Cohn (1:38.35) of UCSD. Nathan Bruner went 1:42.49 in fourth, good for a season best time.
Alex Shibata and Kyle Jones impressed in the 400 IM for FPU and went third and fourth, respectively. Shibata touched at 4:01.65, while Jones clocked in at 4:03.44. Both times were season bests.
The PCSC Championships conclude on Saturday with prelims starting at 9:30 a.m. A special senior recognition is schedule for 3:30 p.m. while the finals are slated to start at 4:30 p.m. at East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium.
