Tritons Take Tough Loss on the Road

    In their second meet of the season, both the UCSD men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams lost to Division-I UC Santa Barbara last Saturday

    The UCSD men’s and women’s swim teams dropped to 1–1 after losing to UC Santa Barbara in their dual meet last Saturday.

    The men’s team was defeated by the Gauchos with a final tally of 184–113, while the women fell by a slightly tighter margin with a final of 172–123.

    After a strong showing in their season opener at home against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps,the Tritons hit a stumbling block on the road to what looks to be a promising season for UCSD swim.

    However, the Tritons did record a solid ten individual wins in the Saturday meet. All-American and NCAA National Champion senior Nicholas Korth posted two wins for the men, while senior Sandy Hon, senior Anji Shakya and sophomore Naomi Thomas each picked up two for the women.

    “I think both Nick Korth and Paul Li had a great meet,” senior Alex Merrill said. “Nick had solid breaststroke races, and despite Paul’s hard schedule, he managed very well and was able to score big points.”

    Merrill said the men will certainly have some kinks to work out over the coming weeks, with this shaky start to their season.

    “It was our first travel trip of the year and I think some of the team just needed to get the jitters out,” Merrill said. “Some of the team are also trying out new race strategies and techniques, so any dual meet is a great place to see if they work or not.”

    Back in October, UCSD topped Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in its season/home opener. The Triton men defeated Claremont 174–126, while the women won with a final score of 191–107.

    UCSD came out with top marks in 28 of the 34 events that day.

    Putting the victories over Claremont aside, the women had a tough time against the Gauchos.

    “I thought that we did really well for going up against a team that is completely fueled by scholarship money,” said senior Lindsay Oosterhouse, who competed in her first meet this year on Saturday after missing the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps match-up.

    The Triton women’s freestyle relay team of freshman Austine Lee, sophomore Colleen Daley, junior Sierra Robbins and senior anchor Shakya took the top time for the 200-meter relay with a time of 1.36.17.

    The team was positive about its individual successes on Saturday and will look to charge forward with the rest of its upcoming meets.

    “We lost by less than 50 points and won seven women’s events, and the energy after the meet definitely reflected that success,” Oosterhouse said.

    Shakya — a 2012 national champion — also took the top spot in her individual races, the 200-meter free (1.51.40) and the 500-meter free (4.59.50).

    Freshman Sasha Mitrushina made waves in her first collegiate meet Saturday. The freshman placed second in the 1000-meter free in her debut for the Triton women.

    “Our main focus this quarter is our Arena Invite, which is in two weeks, where we will be really gearing up to go fast and qualify people for [the NCAA national meet] which will be in March,” Merrill said.

    The Tritons will put in two hard weeks of practice to gear up for the Arena Invitational, Thursday, Nov. 21 through Saturday, Nov. 23.

    “The little things are going to be a big part of training,” Oosterhouse said. “We’ve put in the hard work and done the yardage we need to be prepared, but refining the technical aspects like turns, starts, relay exchanges and breakouts are things that are really going to make a difference when we race in two weeks.”

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