The UCSB men’s and women’s swim teams opened their 2008-09 home schedule with a pair of victories over visiting UC San Diego in a non-conference dual meet at Campus Pool Friday afternoon. The men’s team posted a 177.5-74.5 victory over the Tritons as they captured all 14 first-place finishes during the meet. The Gaucho women defeated UCSD by way of a 157-104 score and captured 11 top finishes.
With the victories, the men’s team improves to 2-0 in dual meet action this season and the women now hold a 3-1 overall record.
The Gaucho women got things rolling with a one-two finish in the 200 medley relay as the “A” team of Alex Hilber, Carri Cook, Naomi Javanifard and Anne Marie May (1:46.82) beat out the UCSB “B” team of Kendall Neely, Sara Nicponski, Katie Ure and Nadia Dwidar.
Not to be shown up by the women, the Gaucho men captured first through third place in the same event. The “A” team of Kevin Ferguson, Jeff Sudbury, Jon Kraetsch and Scott Vogelgesang finished with a top time of 1:33.07.
In the 1000 free, Lindsay Gaudinier posted the top time for the women, touching the wall in 10:25.42, while freshman Jimmy Gaston posted a time of 9:31.10 to capture first-place on the men’s side. In the 200 free, Courtney Bauer (1:54.11) and Chris Good (1:42.10) continued the UCSB domination of the Tritons.
It was not until the women’s 100 backstroke that a Triton was able to break up the Gaucho streak. Anju Shimura placed first in 58.63, the only woman to go sub-one minute in the event. Shimura also turned in the top time in the 200 back, clocking in at 2:06.03, beating out UCSB’s Katie Ure by .03.
Freshman Kevin Ferguson took first in the 100 backstroke (51.43) while Brock Roverud took top honors in the 200 back with a time of 1:55.63.
Sophomore Sara Nicponski was a double event winner finishing the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:03.12, beating out the next best finisher by almost five seconds. She then posted a time of 2:21.69 to take first in the 200 breast. In the men’s breaststroke, Adam Gonzales finished in a time of 58.56 to take first in the 100 and Travis Jepson placed first in the 200 with a time of 2:08.21.
The Gaucho freshmen dominated the 200 butterfly with Alex Hilber finishing in 2:05.98 on the women’s side and Evan Simoni out-touching teammate Chris Wiggin (1:52.32) on the men’s side with a mark of 1:52.25. The Gaucho veterans, however, dominated the next event, as Anne Marie May (23.20) and Jeff Sudbury (20.88) each took the top place in the 50 free.
In the 500 free, Ryan Garcia captured the top finish at 4:36.95. It was his second consecutive win in the event after he posted a victory in the 500 during the meet against Northridge earlier this month.
During the butterfly events, Ure turned in the top time in the 100 fly at 57.63 and freshman Tyler Hayden was the top men’s finisher (51.92). The Gauchos rounded out the individual events with two more wins in the 200 IM. Hilber captured her second victory of the day with a time of 2:07.08 for the women and Danny McClary finished in 1:52.21, beating the fastest UCSD finisher by over seven seconds.
In the meet-closing 200 free relays, the Gaucho women’s “B” team of Neely, Javanifard, Gaudinier and May touched the wall in 1:36.76 and the men’s “B” team of Kevin Kuhn, Sudbury, Josh Cannon and Dan Morris captured first in 1:23.69.
The UCSB swim teams will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 22 when they host Big West Conference foe Cal Poly in a dual meet at Campus Pool. The meet is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start
