The UCSD swimming and diving team fell to the University of Utah, a NCAA Division I team, on Jan. 10. The women’s meet ended with a score of 153-139 and the men’s was finalized at 168-130. Each UCSD squad had only two event wins.
Guardian
On the women’s side, senior co-captain Carolyn Kwok, freshman Liz Whiteley, junior Rosanna Delurgio and freshman Emily Harlan beat out Utah’s 200-yard freestyle relay teams, finishing in 1 minute, 37.78 seconds to keep UCSD undefeated in that event.
Harlan had the other triumph for the women in the 50-yard freestyle (24.44).
The UCSD women were at a disadvantage because NCAA champion Rosanna Delurgio could not swim her best events, the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. Nursing a knee injury, she swam only freestyle. Although it is not her primary stroke, she had a strong performance in the 200, coming in second with a time of 1:57.63.
Delurgio’s injury is not serious, and according to head coach Scott McGihon, she should be healthy by next weekend.
Senior Denise Bogard, another powerful UCSD breaststroker, placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.80, her best time this season. Bogard took another second in the 200-yard individual medley (2:12.87).
Sophomore Sophie Levy earned the final second place for the UCSD women in the 500-yard freestyle. Her time was 5:12.74.
For the men, the meet against Utah was the first against outside competition in six weeks. It was also the first meet in which John Pearce, the men’s only individual event winner of the day, competed with the UCSD team.
Pearce transferred to UCSD last spring from Grossmont College. Though he was a good swimmer at the junior college level, he chose not to swim at UCSD until this quarter.
In the closest race of the day, Pearce beat Utah’s Eric Jorgenson by only four hundredths of a second in the 500-yard freestyle. Pearce swam the event in 4:52.08.
Pearce could prove to be a valuable addition for UCSD, especially if he matches best times from earlier years. Because he has not been training with the team throughout the season, however, he may have difficulty matching these times.
“”It’s just a question of whether he’ll get back in shape in time,”” McGihon said.
Besides Pearce’s win, the UCSD men earned one first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team, comprised of junior Mark Tate, sophomore Mike Isaacs, freshman Andy Harutunian and senior Rob Small, clocked in at 1:26.38.
In addition to his win in the relay, Small claimed second in the 100-yard breaststroke (58.98). Other second places for the men included freshman Tim Fuller’s 200-yard freestyle (1:44.69) and freshman Mike Lahey’s 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes, 54.75 and 1:58.08, respectively.
The men’s diving team was also defeated by Utah. UCSD’s best showing was diver Dan Grodh’s third place finish in the one-meter.
Because Utah has no female divers, the UCSD women’s team competed against UCLA and lost, 32-6. When the swimmers face UCLA next weekend, the diving score will be taken into account in the final score.
“”It was a close meet,”” McGihon said. “”We definitely have more depth than they have. Their number-one swimmers were faster than our number-one swimmers today.””
After the meet against Utah, the women’s dual meet record dropped to 3-3 and the men’s to 1-4. Both McGihon and the swimmers are hoping that UCSD will do well in the upcoming dual meets.
The men have several weeks off while the women compete against schools that have no men’s swimming programs.
The women will swim against UCLA on Jan. 17 and against University of San Diego on Jan. 24.
“”We have really been working hard the past few weeks and our bodies are extremely fatigued,”” junior co-captain Christine Hyjek said. “”It would have been nice to have swum faster, but I know we will have a better showing against UCLA and USD. USD is going to be our big dual meet of this quarter.””
