The best is yet to come for UC San Diego swimming, according to sophomore Asia Kozan, but the team’s present is already nothing to sneeze at. At the Big West Championships in Houston from Feb. 12-15, UCSD swimming completed a successful season. The women finished in second place, and the men finished in fourth. The Tritons will return many of their young stars — like Kozan — next year, and they will look to surpass the heights they reached this season.
Kozan, who was recently named Big West’s Swimmer of the Year, was the star of the Tritons’ show. She won three individual events: the 100-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard individual medley. She also broke a school and Big West record in her lead leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay, and her team shattered its previous best time by 11 seconds en route to a first-place finish.
In an interview with The UCSD Guardian, Kozan credited the rapport she developed with her relay teammates throughout the season for their outstanding race in the Big West Championships. “We all train the [200-yard freestyle] together, and we all race it together,” she said. “We’ve been working on relay starts and transitions, so I think, throughout the whole year, we developed good chemistry.”
Other standout performers on the women’s side were juniors Sophia Bell and Chloe Braun. Bell swam her way to the podium in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. The San Rafael native also took home the main prize in the 1650-yard freestyle, posting a speedy 16:42.24 in a grueling test of endurance. Braun won the 100-yard breaststroke and swam her way into the NCAA championships with a blistering time of 59.14 in the preliminary round. Braun also reached the podium in the 200-yard breaststroke, and her 200-yard medley relay team took first place and broke UCSD and Big West records.
Some notable events for the Triton women were the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard breaststroke. UCSD swept the podium in the 200-yard backstroke and took both first and second place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Eva Boehlke led the way in the 200-yard backstroke with a season-best 1:56.94. She was closely followed by freshmen Maddie O’Connell and Sydney Niles, who both recorded personal-best times. Freshman Hayley Gregory and Braun took first and second, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke, where both had the best showing of their careers.
Although these stellar performances propelled the UCSD women to a second place finish, they were agonizingly close to first — the Tritons were disqualified from the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay for early starts. Kozan admitted: “I’m not happy about it, but [the disqualifications] are justified because they have refs that watch and a system that could sense if you left the slightest bit early.” She said that finishing second, despite missing out on those points, strengthened her belief that UCSD can finish first next year.
Kozan said she is excited for what her and her teammates will accomplish next year, considering the plethora of outstanding young swimmers — including herself — UCSD boasts: “I’m excited for the future because I feel like this meet was a really good stepping stone for us, and I feel like there’s a lot more to come.”
The meet was certainly a stepping stone for Braun — the NCAA announced on March 5 that she will be competing in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events at the NCAA Championships this year. Her rapid personal-best time in the 100-yard backstroke preliminary round proved strong enough to earn her a spot in the field. Braun will be the first UCSD swimmer to participate in the NCAA Championships in the school’s Division-I era. This is an impressive accomplishment and an indication of how far the swimming program has come since it began its transition to Division I five years ago.
In an interview with The Guardian, Braun said that, even though she expected to qualify after keeping tabs on the results from other conferences, receiving news of her qualification was still an emotional moment: “It was really exciting, and I’m really happy. I cried a little bit — of joy, of course — but there’s been so much support from everyone. It’s really awesome.” Braun added that it’s “an honor” to be UCSD’s first-ever swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships. She went on to say that her goal is to “go there and have a lot of fun and just get experience.” She elaborated that, even though she competed at the national level as a high school athlete in France, “The U.S. has the fastest swimmers in the world. … It’s just insane that I’m going to be a part of this.”
Although the men did not find the same success in Houston, they still had plenty to celebrate. Freshman Charlie Franz came in No. 2 with a personal best in the 1650-yard freestyle. Senior Nathan Lee and freshman Hunter Cehelnik both set personal bests and got onto the podium in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle, respectively. Senior Ryan Kirton and the Triton 400-yard freestyle relay squad finished off the meet with a podium finish.
Following the Big West Championships, the Tritons headed across the country to compete in the Bulldog Invitational Last Chance meet in Athens, Georgia, on March 1 and 2. Although none of the Tritons were able to improve their times enough to join Braun at the NCAA Championships, they shattered multiple school records. Cehelnik improved his Big West Championships time in the 100-yard freestyle to set a new program record. He also set a UCSD record in the 100-yard butterfly. Kozan continued her dominant run with record-setting paces in the 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle. The 200-yard medley relay team — Kozan, Braun, freshman Maddie O’Connell, and sophomore Eva Boehlke — set the final program record of the season.
The season is officially over for everyone except Braun, who will now prepare to compete against the nation’s best in the Women’s NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Washington, from March 19 to 22. Regardless of her performance, her presence at the event is a monumental achievement for herself and for UCSD swimming.
