In a battle of conference giants, UCSD women’s swim fell short of a victory, losing an away game to USD 168-126 on Feb. 1. The Tritons racked up some strong individual performances, but only managed one first-place finish all afternoon.
Guardian file photo
“”I thought we performed well today,”” said UCSD head coach Scott McGihon about his team’s performance. “”But USD was ready for us.””
The loss brings the Tritons’ record to 4-3 this season.
The lone UCSD victory came in the final event of the meet: the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Triton relay team, anchored by senior Samantha Wong, outpaced the Torero relay team and finished with a time of 3:38.21. The victory brought some solace to the UCSD swimmers in a meet that has produced the last four conference champions, two titles for each squad.
The shortage of victories did not put a damper on UCSD’s day because each swimmer gave a solid performance, notably sophomore Christine Hyjek. Hyjek wreaked her own havoc in the meet, swimming 2:10.15 in the 200 butterfly, a new personal best. She also had a strong showing in the 200 individual medley, finishing a close second in both races.
“”It was pretty cool,”” Hyjek said about her finishes. “”I stepped up and I did great.””
Coach McGihon also remarked about Hyjek’s performance.
“”She had a very good meet — definitely great,”” he said.
The team also had close finishes throughout the afternoon, adding six other individual and relay second-place finishes to Hyjek’s deuce. Sophomore Rosanna Delurgio took two second-place finishes in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 1:04.87 and 2:23.64, respectively. Sophomore Frances Tran had a time of 2:13.86 in the 200-yard backstroke — good enough for another UCSD second-place finish.
UCSD’s lack of rest may have played a crucial factor in the outcome of the meet. The Tritons came into the meet only a week after defeating UC Santa Cruz in their last home meet, while USD had a full two weeks to rest and recover.
“”USD’s extra rest definitely gave them an edge,”” Hyjek said.
The UCSD swimmers were also without the aid of super junior Jennifer Watanabe, who was absent from the meet due to personal reasons.
Even with the heartbreaking loss, the women’s swim team is looking forward to defending its title at the Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference Championships later this month.
“”We have strong depth and we have been working hard,”” Hyjek said about her teammates’ preparation for the upcoming meet. “”Even with the loss, we still have great confidence.””
The day’s events began on a higher note with the UCSD girls taking first place in both diving events. The 200-yard medley relay kicked off the swim portion of the meet and featured a hotly contested battle between the UCSD and USD A teams. In the end, UCSD finished second with a time of 1:51.31, almost three seconds behind USD’s winning time of 1:48.90. The result was only a sign of things to come, since UCSD failed to capture a single event for most of the afternoon.
