UCSD men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to UC Davis for their second dual meet of the season on Nov. 8. The UCSD women won, 158-138, and the Triton men lost, 160-140.
First to finish: The visiting Triton women’s swimming and diving team edged rival UC Davis, 158-138, on Nov. 8. Next meet is at Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 15.
Because the UCSD and UC Davis teams are nearly on the same level in terms of skill and depth, they have become intense rivals over the past two years. Going into the meet, the UCSD athletes were determined to put forth their best effort and obtain a victory over the Aggies. As evidenced by the close final scores, both the UCSD men’s and women’s teams posed a serious challenge to UC Davis.
The two women’s teams have a history of extremely close meets. In 2002, UC Davis came to UCSD expecting to win, but the UCSD women surprised them, winning by only nine points. Then, Davis evened the score by coming in first over UCSD at the Pacific Conference Championships.
Senior co-captain Carolyn Kwok was happy about the Triton women’s victory.
Close call: Freshman Mike Lahey and the rest of the Triton men’s swimming and diving team lost to UC Davis, 160-140.
“”It was an intense dual meet,”” Kwok said. “”We were really happy about our win.””
The team camaraderie and the loud cheering helped both UCSD teams swim faster, according to Kwok. In one instance, Kwok said the cheering aided a come-from-behind win by sophomore Sophie Levy in the 1000-yard freestyle.
The UCSD men’s team, on the other hand, has lost to UC Davis by large margins in recent years. The Nov. 8 meet was the first time that they have come close to a win. In fact, the male swimmers from UCSD earned more points than those from UC Davis, but the Aggie divers made the overall score shift in their favor.
In addition to improving on last year’s score against UC Davis, UCSD also earned many NCAA qualifications.
On the women’s team, there were 10 consideration qualifications and five automatic qualifications. The automatic qualifiers were sophomore Rosanna Delurgio in the 100-yard breaststroke (1 minute and 3.63 seconds); senior Denise Bogard in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.00); freshman Emily Harlan in the 50-yard freestyle (24.08) and the 100-yard freestyle (51.98); and freshman Susan Bell, Delurgio, sophomore Sarah Grant and Harlan in the 200-yard medley relay (1:47.88).
There were seven consideration qualifications on the men’s side. The lone double-event qualifier was freshman Jacob Dong in the 100-yard breaststroke (59.20) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:09.41).
UCSD head coach Scott McGihon was pleased with the team’s performance.
“”The team did a phenomenal job in preparing for the meet and stepping up to swim,”” McGihon said. “”People swam faster than they’ve ever swum before.””
Inspired by their achievements against the Aggies, the UCSD swimmers and divers hope to beat Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 15. McGihon expects the women to win, while he expects the men’s meet to be very competitive.
“”It should be interesting to see how our strengths play out against their strengths,”” McGihon said.
