The No. 5 ranked Triton men improved their league record (5–2) by winning 4–0 matches against No. 8 ranked Missouri University of Science & Technology team and Cal State Bakersfield.
“I knew we were going to have our work cut out for us,” UCSD head coach Corrie Falcon said. “I honestly didn’t think that we would beat them as soundly as we did. I felt like our team really stepped up and raced to their potential. And that was all it took to beat both teams.”
The No. 3 ranked Triton women took a 3–0 score this weekend against Division-I teams Cal State Bakersfield and Loyola Marymount University to bring their league record to 6–2.
Team captains senior Beth Dong, junior Nicholas Korth and junior Anji Shakya each took the top times in three individual events.
Dong recorded the second-fastest time in the nation for the 1000 free (10:18.93) to place first in the competition. Dong also took first in the 200 fly (2:05.13) and 200 IM (2:08.09), and led a podium sweep in the 200 fly with redshirt freshman Dari Watkins (2:07.52) and freshman Naomi Thomas (2:09.07) finishing close behind.
Shakya took first in the 200 free (1:52.45), 200 back (2:06.83) and 500 free (5:04.32). Shakya and Dong also won the 400 free relay (3:31.96), along with seniors Oliva Fountain and Katherine Tse.
In the breaststroke events, Korth took first place with a time over six seconds ahead of the second place finisher in the 200 (2:02.62). Korth also placed first in the 100 (56.48) and 200 IM (1:55.53) with teammates freshman A.J. Zavala (1:56.58) and junior John Chang (1:57.29) finishing just behind Korth.
Senior All-American Tyler Runsten will return for a fourth time to the NCAA Division II Championships with an automatic qualifying score of 292.12 won in the one-meter springboard event. Alongside Runsten, junior Luke Calkins will also compete for the Tritons’ diving team at the upcoming NCAA Division II Championships. Runsten and Calkins also took first and second in the three-meter, respectively.
For the women, junior Natalie Mouzooni won the one-meter (208.35) and three-meter (211.80).
Falcon has set a goal for her team to win the rest of the dual meets leading up to its finish with USC. After tying USC last year and losing to their team the year before, Falcon sets her sights on taking home a win against the Trojans in the near future.
After a perfect meet this past weekend, the Tritons will face California Baptist University and the men of Simon Fraser University starting at noon, Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Canyonview Pool.
