UC San Diego Press Release
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The University of California San Diego women's swimming and diving team had little difficulty with NCAA Division I opponent University of San Diego in its regular-season finale at Canyonview Aquatic Center on Saturday.
UC San Diego, ranked No. 6 in Division II, completed the dual-meet season with a 7-2 record, with five consecutive wins, all against either Division I programs or nationally-ranked Division II squads. USD ended up 2-7. The Tritons have now defeated the Toreros in five straight meetings, and are 14-1-1 against their city rivals over the past 16 matchups.
UCSD swimmers and divers produced the top mark in 14 of the 16 events contested on the day, though with the result in hand, the Tritons exhibitioned the final two races. The home side put together 1-2-3 finishes in six individual events for the maximum 16 points in each, including both of the backstroke and diving variety.
Individual victories came two at a time for the most part on Saturday, as five Tritons came up with a pair of first-place efforts, out of their 12 in all.
Brooke Abrantes (San Diego/Santana HS) swept the springboard diving, scoring 280.57 points from three meters and then a personal-record 273.07 off of one meter. Both are NCAA qualifiers, though the sophomore had already booked a return trip. Her three-meter score fell narrowly short of her best of 280.60.
Once more, All-Americans Jaimie Bryan and Julia Toronczak (Santee/West Hills HS) swept the breaststroke and backstroke races, respectively. In her final competitive appearance at Canyonview, Bryan went 1:04.16 over 100 yards and 2:17.01 over 200, the latter mark coming close to her pool-record effort (2:16.65) from exactly one ago. Toronczak timed 57.79 in the 100 and a season-best 2:01.38 in the 200.
Alayna Gocke had a stellar afternoon, as the true freshman from Nipomo collected a pair of personal records in winning the 200 freestyle (1:52.74) and 500 free (5:03.73). Last but not least, another fourth-year senior making her final home appearance, two-time tri-captain Natalie Tang, swept the sprints in 24.18 and 52.41.
Remaining top marks went to Casey Brotherton in the 1000 free (10:29.51) and fellow freshman Anissa Barroso in the 200 individual medley (2:09.11).
Both relays went the way of the Tritons. Tang led off the best 200 medley relay, with the junior trio of Angie Phetbenjakul, Jayna Wittenbrink and tri-captain Haley Murphy following her for 1:47.00. Toronczak, Phetbenjakul, freshman Amanda Rios and junior anchor Sarah Yao made up the fastest 400 free relay (3:33.99) at the end.
The lone USD successes came in the butterfly races, from Alex Hubel in the 200 (2:05.53) and fellow sophomore Danielle Taylor in the 100 (56.71). Triton Emily Lambert, herself a sophomore, was second in both (2:10.34 and 57.90).
UCSD swimmers achieved eight NCAA consideration qualifiers, in the form of Brotherton in the 1000, Bryan and Gocke in each of their four wins, Toronczak in the 200 back and Phetbenjakul in her two runner-up breaststroke placements (1:04.67 and 2:19.87). The only three that were better than previous marks, however, were Gocke's and Toronczak's times. In diving, in addition to Abrantes' performance, Tiffany Wong's second-place one-meter score of 262.35 topped the standard of 255, but like her teammate, the freshman has already qualified for the NCAA meet.
Junior Alex Rodman (Coronado/Boston University/Coronado HS) was second behind Toronczak in the backstrokes (59.52 and 2:05.04). Alongside captains Bryan and Tang, a third fourth-year Triton in Sierra Gage swam in her final home meet.
The 1-2-3 finishes were in the 1000 with Brotherton, Kaitlin Ritchey (10:34.82) and Haley Hamza (10:36.66), 100 back with Toronczak, Rodman and Elee Wong (1:01.57), 200 back with Toronczak, Rodman and Holly Fosmire(2:11.59), 200 breast with Bryan, Phetbenjakul and Lily Maxfield (2:25.34), and both springboards with Abrantes, Wong (234.37 on one) and Delainey Carlin (211.57 and 207.90).
With their regular seasons now complete, the UC San Diego men and women now collectively shift their focus to the 2017 Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference (PCSC) Championships, to be held Feb. 8-11 in Monterey Park. Both the Triton men and women are eight-time defending PCSC champions.
