Despite falling behind on the first day, the women’s team took over on the second day and never looked back; the men started the tournament with the lead and never lost it. At the end of the meet, the Triton men scored 1548.5 points, more than 150 above their closest competitor, Cal Baptist University; the women finished with 1635 points, almost 400 points more than their closest competitor, also Cal Baptist. After the championships,, the Tritons now have 29 swimmers qualified for the NCAA D-II national championships, which will be held in San Antonio, Texas from March 9-12.
The first day was all about the relays, as both teams won two. The men’s 200 individual medley relay team of Eric Owens, Nick Korth, Adam Yen and Blake Langland touched the wall in 1:30.40, nearly four seconds faster than its closest competitor and an NCAA qualifying time. The men’s 800 freestyle relay — made up of Alex Merrill, Kyle Begovich, Julius Espiritu, and Michal Lorch — also put up a qualifying time of 6:42.18 in their race.
On the women’s side, the 200-medley relay team of Sandy Hon, Michelle McCadden, Jessica Ferguson and sophomore Amber Tan also snuck in under the qualifying time — edging it by four-tenths of a second — and scored first place with a time of 1:44.31. Junior captain Alex Henley, senior captain Anju Shimura, Emily Adamczyk and freshman Anji Shakya posted a 7:31.06 in the 800 freestyle relay, to take first place and record a qualifying time.
On the last day of competition, UCSD had the victory wrapped up at the start of the day, but still put on a great show and won multiple competitions. Adamczyk set a conference record in the 200 breast stroke with a time of 2:14.40, while the Tritons scored a 1-2-3 finish as Neda Nguyen and McCadden also medaled in the race. Gabby Rossbach and Henley won the 200 butterfly (2:04.34) and the 200 backstroke (1:58.72), respectively, and Rossbach also won the 1650 free with a time of 17:28.45 to mark the individual winners for the women on the last day. The women’s combination of Henley, Shimura, Olivia Fountain, and sophomore Katherine Tse also won the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:27.67.
On the last day, Matt Herman took home the 1650 gold with a time of 15:44.80, while Korth won the 200 breast stroke with a time of 1:58.56 to round out the individual champions for the men on the day. Korth’s time set a PCSC record and broke his own school record. In the final relay to finish the meet, Reid McCallum, Sam Stromberg, Merrill and Langland took second place with a 3:02.11 time.
“It was awesome to be in a huge lead compared to the other teams, but I think we knew we were going to win at that point,” Shimura said. “It was about trying to win the most events, and we’re definitely trying to get a lot of people to nationals cut, and put the best team together as possible.”
Langland and Henley were awarded the 2011 PCSC Men’s and Women’s Swimmer of the Meet honors, respectively, for their outstanding performances.
“This year, we kind of already knew we were going to win when we went into the meet, but everyone still gave 100 percent,” Shimura said. “We did awesome, everyone did really well.”
Overall, the Tritons have 29 swimmers qualified for nationals, a mark higher than each of the last two years.
Readers can contact Tyler Nelson at [email protected]
