LONG BEACH — The UCSB swim teams got off to a solid start on the first day of the Big West Championships at Bellmont Plaza in Long Beach.
The Gauchos opened Thursday’s action strong fashion as the men and women successfully defended their titles in the 200 medley relay. The women’s ‘A’ relay of Naomi Javanifard, Emily Adamczyk, Katie Ure and Anne Marie May came in at a fast time of 1:40.41.
For the Gaucho men, Kevin Ferguson, Tim Freeman, Danny McClary and Chris Peterson touched first with a time of 1:28.47.
The women’s 1000 freestyle, the first individual race of the meet, went to Cal Poly’s Lacey Buck, who came in with a time of 10:01.55. The top finisher for the Gaucho women was Meagan Brown who came in fourth with a time of 10:09.21, a personal best. Astrid Amsallem took sixth in 10:16.88, while teammate Emma Hunt finished one place behind, touching the wall in 10:19.24.
For the men, the top finisher for UCSB was Shane Hurter, who finished seventh with a personal best time of 9:30.15 by over 20 seconds. Travis Jepson also scored points for the Gauchos after taking 14th with a time of 10:00.20.
UCSB’s women finished the day off with a second place finish in the 800 freestyle relay with Katie Stover, Courtney Bauer, Olivia Plume and Kelsey Lewis coming in at 7:24.02. UC Davis’ ‘A’ team won the event with a time of 7:17.96, breaking a three-year old Big West record previously held by the Gauchos.
The men also took second to UC Davis in the 800 free relay. The team of Scott Vogelgesang, Dan Morris, Brandon Shilling and Joe Plume finished in 6:37.16, which is a NCAA ‘B’ consideration time.
Through the first three events, the Gaucho women are currently in first place with 114 points, 14 ahead of second-place Cal Poly. The men are in fourth place with 89 points, trailing first-place UC Davis by 35 points.
All the action continues tomorrow in Long Beach with the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle and 400 medley relay.
