UCSD defeats University of San Diego, looks toward conference championships
The UCSD women’s swim and dive team finished off its 2013–14 regular season on a high note as it cruised past crosstown rival University of San Diego 189.5–108.5 at USD’s Sports Center Pool on Saturday. The Tritons had recently moved up from No. 6 to No. 5 on Friday and completed their dual-meet schedule with a record of 8–6 after the win against USD.
UCSD is now 11-1-1 over its last thirteen annual meetings with the USD Toreros.
“It’s always a good meet with USD,” UCSD assistant women’s swim coach Dan Perdew said. “It’s been pretty close over the last few years, and we saw a lot of excitement from the team going into the meet.”
Senior co-captain Anji Shakya, recently named one of the seven amateur Stars of the Year for 2013 by the San Diego Hall of Champions, and freshman Jaimie Bryan were the stars of the meet, each winning three individual events. Shakya won the 200 freestyle (1:51.95), 200 backstroke (2:07.96) and 500 freestyle (5:02.09) with a comfortable lead of at least a second and a half. Shakya also served as anchor for the 200 freestyle relay behind sophomore Colleen Daley, freshman Austine Lee and junior Sierra Robbins, contributing to the first place win.
Bryan won the 100 and 200 breaststroke comfortably, with times of 1:06.62 and 2:23.0, respectively. The freshman also took the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:11.24, just seconds before teammate sophomore Naomi Thomas who finished second with a time of 2:14.31.
Other victories included a win from Daley, who took the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.87, just ahead of fellow teammate, junior Jaclyn Amog, who finished with 24.57. Daley placed second in the 100 freestyle (53.04).
Among the seniors, Sandy Hon earned top honors in the 100 backstroke with a season-best of 58.63. Fellow senior, diver Natalie Mouzooni scored the highest total across four competitors on the one-meter springboard, scoring a 208.95.
With the regular season behind them, UCSD can now look forward to the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference Championships next week, Feb. 12 through Feb. 15 in La Mirada.
“We’re excited, training well and we’re in a great place mentally,” Perdew said. “We’ve seen a lot of great swimming this winter, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
