While the rest of the school settled in last weekend after a short winter break, the men and women of the UCSD swimming and diving teams were already on the move, heading north toward Los Angeles, where the Tritons dominated in a dual meet against Division-I opponents Loyola Marymount University and Cal State Bakersfield. The No. 4 nationally ranked women’s team defeated host Loyola Marymount and Cal State Bakersfield with scores of 185–108 and 172–128, respectively. The No. 7 men’s team, who only faced off against Bakersfield, beat the Roadrunners by a score of 160–139.

“Being able to go 3–0 against a pair of Division-I opponents on the road in adverse conditions (persistent rain) is always nice,” UCSD women’s swimming and diving head coach Corrie Falcon told the UCSD Athletics Department.

With the weekend’s success, the Triton women improved to 7–3 overall, while the men moved up to 5–3 on the season.

Though many UCSD athletes performed admirably during the defeat of their foes, sophomore Austine Lee’s performances not only outshone all others but also significantly aided the women’s side in their sweep. She won the 100 (1:05.65) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.24), leading a 1-2-3 Triton sweep in both races, ahead of senior Eva Chen and sophomore Jaimie Bryan each time. In the 50-yard freestyle, she finished second (24.16), while junior Colleen Daley finished closely behind in third (24.73). Lee also led off a team of Bryan, senior Jaclyn Amog and Daley in a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley (1:46.91).

“This was a pretty comfortable win against both [Loyola Marymount] and [Cal State] Bakersfield on the women’s side,” Falcon said. “There were any number of solid swims, but we really crushed them in the breaststroke, going 1-2-3 in both the 100 and 200. Austine Lee was probably our best swimmer today.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Zachary Yong, won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:08.34. Yong’s time was less than a second in front of teammate junior AJ Zavala who finished the race at 2:09.23, while Triton freshman Josh Lo took third (2:11.64). Zavala, however, beat Yong in the 100-yard breaststroke by a little more than a second, with the pair finishing with times of 58.48 and 59.62, respectively.

UCSD also swept the podium in the 200-yard individual medley, with Yong (1:56.05) and Zavala (1:56.47) again taking first and second, respectively, while freshman Kevin Fink finished in third (1:58.02).

“Zach had won the 200-[yard] breaststroke earlier and told me right before the [individual medley] that ‘we’re going to go 1-2-3,’” Falcon said. “To see him get that win in such a pressured situation was gratifying.”

Young talent also showed promise as freshman Kevin Wylder took the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle (21.40) and the 100-yard butterfly (50.71).

“Kevin Wylder also had maybe his best meet of the season,” Falcon said. “He’s getting better and better as he gets used to things at the collegiate level and is starting to show the potential that we knew he had.”

Senior diver Adam Springer won the one-meter dive with a season best of 269.10 points. He finished third on the three-meter springboard with a score of 281.80 points.

UCSD looks to close out the regular season at home with one last upcoming meet for the men’s team and two for the women’s. Both squads will face off against California Baptist University on Saturday, Jan. 17, while the women alone will compete against University of San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 31. Following their final meets, the Tritons will prepare themselves for the postseason, starting with conference championships in mid-February.