Facing unexpectedly dominant competition from the No. 11 Bruins, the No. 3 UCSD women’s swim and dive team was upset by UCLA Jan. 15 at Men’s Gym Pool in Los Angeles, 165-80. Returning home for a dual meet against UC Davis on Jan. 16, the women’s side was only able to turn in six individual victories, losing 186.5-113.5. The No. 2 men’s team was more successful against the Aggies, capturing 13 of the meet’s 16 events and dominating scoring, 203-92.
History was against the Tritons as they started the meet at UCLA, since they lost their last nine consecutive dual meets against the Bruins prior to the competition. Despite a higher national ranking, the Tritons could not attain crucial victories as the opposition broke eight pool records and swept the top-five places of both the one-meter and three-meter diving events.
The Tritons swept the final event — the 200-yard freestyle relay — but individual second-place finishes were more noteworthy in light of UCLA’s disqualifications from that relay.
Sophomore Susan Bell led UCSD in the 200-yard breaststroke, taking second with a time of 2 minutes, 26.1 seconds, putting her ahead of teammates sophomore Kathryn Mara, junior Louisa Salisbury and sophomore Emily Starkie, who took third through fifth places, respectively.
Bell also turned in a second-place time of 2:12.35 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Senior Rosana Delurgio and sophomore Monica Becks trailed UCLA’s Shannon Hacket to take second and third places, respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle. Such performances by the Tritons, though demonstrative of the team’s prowess, do not account for lost first-place points.
Back in action the subsequent day, the Tritons faced a well-rested Aggie team. Three individuals and the 400-yard medley relay team all set school records for Davis, which won 10 of the meet’s 16 events.
The Tritons saw several individual successes, including the 1,000-yard freestyle event, in which junior Sophie Levy edged Davis’ Michelle Jennings by 1.06 seconds for the victory, 10:21.71 to 10:22.77. Levy repeated the feat against Jennings in the 500-yard freestyle event later in the afternoon, widening the gap to 5:05.74 to 5:06.95, and securing a Triton victory in the event.
Delurgio pulled down top honors in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events, beating her best competition by more than a full second in the shorter race, then separating herself from the second-place Davis racer by upwards of five seconds in the latter event.
Freshman Sonia Menchavez was the clear champion in the one-meter diving event, beating the second-place Davis diver by almost 40 points.
On the men’s side, the blowout was characterized with superior performances by senior Kurt Boehm, sophomore Mike Lahey and freshman Joel Tourtellotte, who each won a pair of events.
Boehm smashed the Davis athletes swimming in neighboring lanes in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard fly, beating the next fastest finishers by more than two seconds and one second, respectively.
Lahey won both backstroke events with a combination of fierce talent and luck, out-touching Davis’ Jason Kim in the 100-yard backstroke by 0.01 seconds, 53.14 to 53.15. Only 1.64 seconds separated first through fifth places in the event. Lahey kept the competition close again in the 200, defeating Davis’ Arum Yoo by 0.78 seconds.
Tourtellette and senior Devin Spicer took first and second in the 500-yard freestyle, the latter edging the first Davis finisher by slightly more than a second. The duo also went one-two in the 1,000-yard freestyle event as Tourtellette touched the wall in 9:39.72, just shy of 11 seconds ahead of the first Davis opponent.
The Triton women are back in action Jan. 22 for a noon meet against crosstown rival USD before both teams head north to challenge UC Irvine in a Jan. 23 dual meet. That will be the last regular-season competition for the Tritons before leaving for the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference Championships in Long Beach, Calif., Feb. 16 to Feb. 19.
