Fresno Pacific Press Release
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific women's swimming & diving team swept California Baptist and Concordia on Saturday as the Sunbirds opened their 2017 portion of the schedule. The men also defeated Concordia, while narrowly falling to CBU at the Lancer Aquatics Center.
"This was a great, Division II swim meet today," said head coach Josh Christensen. "I'm proud of the way we competed. This was a very strong way to kick of the championship portion of our season."
The women won nine events on the day, highlighted by Bavindeep Basra capturing two victories. The junior won the 200 fly with a time of 2:06.33 and won the 400 IM at 4:27.75
FPU dominated the freestyle events and opened the day with a win in the 50 free at 24.13 from Olivia Hynes. Teammate Samantha Woo won the 100 free with a touch of 52.23 and placed second in the 50 free at 24.52. Laura Fornshell continued her stellar freshman campaign with a win in the 200 free with a touch of 1:53.77.
The other individual victories came from Olga Melnikova, who won the 100 back with a time of 59:40, and Daria Belova, who earned a victory in the 100 fly at 57.24.
FPU won the 400 IM relay at 3:52.70 (Melnikova, Belova, Basra, Hynes) and the 200 free with a time of 1:37.81 (Hynes, Woo, Madison McGinnis and Matlyn Morris).
"Last year our women lost to CBU by over 130 points, so to turn that around in one year and come down here and win says a tremendous amount about the work our ladies have put in," said Christensen.
FPU defeated the Lancers by a score of 152-148, while also taking down Concordia 225-61.
On the men's side, Maxim Shcherbakov led the way with two victories in both breaststroke events. He won the 100 breast (54.11), which was a season-best time and sixth quickest in Division II, and the 200 (1:59.89).
Newcomer Aleksei Averchenko also impressed in his first time in the pool as a Sunbird. The transfer from Russia won the 100 fly with a time of 50.69 and won the 200 fly at 1:53.91.
The Sunbirds had a solid showing in the backstroke events, powered by Callen Bruening winning the 100 with a time of 51.75 and a second-place showing in the 200 at 1:55.53. Kyle Jones won the 200 back at 1:54.61.
For the relays, the Sunbirds won the 400 IM at 3:22.52 behind a team of Luka Barisic, Shcherbakov, Averchenko and Dmitry Belolipetskiy.
"For the men, we came up just short," noted Christensen. "We had a couple places where we just didn't execute and missed opportunities to win. It's tough to lose, but I'm super proud of how we competed the whole day. We'll just keep working to get better."
The Sunbirds fell 150-148 to CBU, but defeated CUI 231-44.
FPU is next in the pool against Cal State East Bay, as the women host the Pioneers on Friday, Jan. 20.
