SWIMMING ‘amp; DIVING ‘mdash; It has been one year since the Triton women last faced off against Loyola Marymount University in a dual meet, and the Tritons have not forgotten their bitter defeat at the hands of the Lions. Although this season’s team features several new players, the leftover feelings from the close defeat have not diminished.
‘Not to take anything away from LMU, but it was a hard loss to swallow,’ head coach Scott McGihon said. ‘We really hope to pull out a win this year.’
Last year, the Tritons and the Lions both won seven individual events, with the Triton women taking two relays. Unfortunately for UCSD, it was not enough to overcome Loyola Marymount, who bested the Triton women 131-128.
‘That was a horrible loss,’ senior captain Aubrey Panis said. ‘We did not put our best performance in the pool that day.’
In last year’s competition, Panis was a member of the first-place 400-yard medley relay and she looks to recapture that race when the two teams meet again on Jan. 10.
With only one senior from last year’s team, and a flood of new talent, the Tritons are ready to sweep the Lions.
‘We’ve been training really hard and have a lot of talent on the team this year,’ Panis said. ‘We beat them by almost 100 points at Nike Cup earlier this season, so we’re going to be racing hard this time to win.’
The Tritons maintained an intensive workout regimen over winter break that included workouts of 14,000 yards in the pool in preparation for their meet against Loyola Marymount.
‘We’ve been training really hard these past six weeks and haven’t had competition since the Nike Cup [in November],’ McGihon said. ‘We’re really excited for our first meet of the year and our first conference home meet of the season.’
The swim meet on’ Jan. 10 begins at 11 a.m. at Canyon View Pool and pits the UCSD women, equipped with a lot of young talent and speed, against the Lions, who have not been nearly as competitive with the Tritons this season in collective meets such as the Nike Cup. The Tritons have a chance to start off four straight weekends of competition with a victory. This time, the Tritons will be seeking revenge in their own pool ‘mdash; an advantage they did not have last time the teams met.
‘We didn’t have a great meet last year,’ McGihon said. ‘But, we have a strong team this year and hopefully can pull out a win.’
Also this weekend, the men’s swim team will be hosting Grand Canyon University on Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. and there will be a knockout round for UCSD Spirit Night during the intermissions of the meet.
Readers can contact Tyler Nelson at [email protected].