SWIMMING ‘amp; DIVING ‘mdash; With only two weeks left before conference championships, the Tritons knew they would have to put up one of their best performances last weekend to prepare for the season’s biggest event. Facing off against the Cal Baptist University Lancers and the UC Irvine Anteaters on Jan. 24, the Tritons showcased some of their best swimmers and times to get themselves ready for conference.
The Triton women beat host UC Irvine 176-124 and crushed Cal Baptist University 209-82. The Triton men, on the other hand, took two losses, falling to UC Irvine 185-96 and to Cal Baptist University 165-118.
The Tritons started out strong, placing first in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:49.30 led by freshman Shea Kopp, freshman Sadie O’Brien, sophomore Jessica Ferguson and senior captain Aubrey Panis.
‘We did really well,’ Panis said. ‘It was the first time we had ever beaten UC Irvine, so we were really excited about that.’
Sophomore Anju Shimura led the way in events for Tritons, placing first in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 58.13 and following that up with another first-place finish in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.90. Kendall Bohn also took away victories in the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke with times of 1:06.24 and 2:22.13, respectively. Panis, Kopp and Ferguson worked to sweep the top three spots of the 50 yard freestyle at the meet.
As usual, the Triton women finished with a blowout in the final race of the meet: the 200 yard freestyle relay. Led by Shimura, sophomore Ashtyn Douglass, senior Erin Deters and Panis, UCSD took the final event with a time of 1:37.20.
‘Our girls swam really well,’ Panis said. ‘We knew we could beat Cal Baptist but Irvine we weren’t sure. We just have some really good swimmers.’
Unfortunately, the Triton men’s meet did not turn out as well.
‘We were definitely expecting more from the guys team,’ head coach Scott McGihon said. ‘Some guys swam really well and others didn’t. That’s about as simple as I can put it.’
First-place finishes were hard to come by’ against one of the nation’s best programs at UC Irvine. Senior Knief Lohse took second place in the 200 yard freestyle, behind UC Irvine, with a time of 1:44.22, while senior captain Steve Hardy finished second in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 24.02. Junior Pablo Carrillo also recorded a second-place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 57.71.
It recorded a second place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:24.10 led by freshman Sam Stromberg, junior Todd Langland, freshman Blake Langland and senior captain Daniel Perdew.
The Tritons have little time to recuperate as they prepare for their final meet next week before the conference championships. The Triton women will face the San Diego State Aztecs and the University of Wyoming Cowboys, while the men’s team will be up against the University of Wyoming in a meet at San Diego State.
‘We’re really going to analyze what happened at this meet and prepare for next weekend,’ McGihon said. ‘We really need to get in some preparation for conference championships.’
Readers can contact Tyler Nelson at’ [email protected].