In its annual matchup against crosstown rival University of San Diego, the UCSD women’s swimming team easily beat the Division I Toreros 191-109 Feb. 2.
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“”I was surprised that the meet was actually that easy to win,”” head coach Scott McGihon said. “”We wanted to win, but we were more concerned with taking care of our own business first.””
Sophomore swimmer Carolyn Kwok wasn’t particularly taken aback by Saturday’s result.
“”I wasn’t surprised, but I wouldn’t say I was expecting it,”” she said. “”I knew we had a lot of depth for our team. We all went in confident we would do better than last year.””
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Enjoying the home advantage of Canyonview Pool in their last home match of the season, the Tritons won 10 out of the 16 total events en route to their dominating victory.
The Tritons’ 400-yard medley relay team of Jennifer Watanabe, Sandra Lopez, Frances Tran and Samantha Wong gave UCSD an early boost, netting 11 points for the Tritons.
Lopez then went the solo track and picked up two individual victories, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events.
The Tritons showed off their depth in the backstroke event as well, taking the top seven places in the 100-yard competition and the top five spots in the 200-yard event.
Senior Molly McCorkle also picked up a double victory for UCSD, pulling a backstroke sweep by winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events.
“”I knew their backstrokers wasn’t their stronger event,”” McGihon said. “”Both Sandra and Molly are seniors, so it’s nice they can go out as double event winners.””
Carolyn Kwok praised her teammates’ performances as well.
“”Molly is a leader by example,”” she said. “”She trains really hard and does well in competitions. [Lopez and McCorkle] both did really well [Saturday], which is really cool.””
The Tritons also won both freestyle events. In the 50-yard freestyle competition, sophomore Carolyn Kwok finished .02 seconds ahead of older sister and co-team captain Evelyn Kwok. In the 100-yard freestyle event, junior Samantha Wong picked up the nine-point victory for UCSD.
“”[My sister and I] have just been swimming together for so long, and there’s always been people placing on us the whole sibling rivalry thing,”” Carolyn Kwok said. “”We support each other a lot — it’s not like ‘oh man my sister beat me.’ It’s really cool to have my sister here. There are other days when my sister beats me.””
McGihon agrees that the two sisters benefit from each other.
“”They both get along really well and are real supportive of each other,”” he said. “”They both recognize the fact that both are important to the team as a whole. Beyond being good sisters, they are good teammates.””
Aside from beating her sister in the 50-yard freestyle, Carolyn Kwok also anchored the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team, along with Heather Hearon, Carly Ross and Evelyn Kwok.
Freshman Frances Tran also contributed to UCSD’s victory with a photo-finish victory in the 100-yard butterfly event, beating USD’s Kaitlin Bourne by .12 seconds.
Ross also posted her second-fastest time ever Saturday in the 200-yard freestyle, coming in .33 seconds behind USD’s Carolyn Gorrick. Diver Elizabeth Sales also picked up points for UCSD, winning the 1-meter diving competition and placing second in the 3-meter event.
For the Toreros, Kristin Isbell (1000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle) and Gorrick (200-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle) led USD with two victories apiece.
The win was even more impressive considering the condition of the team at this point in the season.
“”This year, we’ve been training really hard and we’re broken down and tired,”” Carolyn Kwok said. “”It wasn’t our main focus — we were just trying to have fun and do our best.””
With the regular season now finished, the Tritons are focusing on the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships, which begin Feb. 18, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Championship in March.
“”I think this year our team has done a good job focusing on conference and nationals,”” said McGihon, who has had about half his team qualify for nationals already.
“”[The conference championship] is our main focus for now; we have a lot of people resting for it,”” Carolyn Kwok said. “”For conference, I think we can potentially qualify a few more for nationals.””
Despite the focus on the conference, McGihon was satisfied with his team’s performance last weekend.
“”On the whole, I thought they raced extremely well and really stepped up to the challenge,”” McGihon said. “”We had some surprisingly good swims, but the team as a whole did as they needed to do. It was nice to win the bragging rights for the San Diego area for this year.””
