LONG BEACH – The UCSB swim teams posted four NCAA ‘B’ qualifying times on Thursday, the first day of the Arena Invitational, which is being hosted by UC San Diego at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Chris Peterson and Kevin Ferguson each posted ‘B’ cuts in the 50 free, Allie Knight met the standard in the 200 individual medley and the men’s 200 free relay also made the cut.
Peterson finished third in Thursday’s 50 free final with a time of 20.04, coming in a bit slower than his time of 19.98 in the event’s preliminary heats. Ferguson finished sixth in the same event, touching the wall in 20.30 seconds.
Ryan Hanni tied for 13th place during the 50 free consolation final with a mark of 20.75; he posted a time of 20.63 early in the day. Garrett Thompson won the bonus final, touching the wall in 20.61 seconds.
The aforementioned foursome took second place behind Pac-10 foe Stanford with a ‘B’ qualifying time of 1:19.78 in the 200 free relay.
Allie Knight won the 200 IM bonus final with a time of 2:01.93, which makes the NCAA ‘B’ cut on the nose. Paige Bradley and Sophia Yamauchi both made the consolation final for the event, taking 11th and 15th, respectively. Bradley and Yamauchi swam their best times of the day in the morning’s prelims. Bradley posted a 2:02.59 and Yamauchi touched the wall in 2:03.67.
In the men’s 200 IM, Evan Simoni took 12th in the consolation final with a time of 1:51.92. Kevin Ferguson swam the event’s prelims and finished with a time of 1:51.78.
Lucas Norman represented the Gauchos in the 500 free and took 16th in the final with a time of 4:34.76; he went a bit faster in his morning swim, clocking in at 4:32.38. On the women’s end, Andrea Ward took 20th with a time of 4:55.36.
Rounding out the Gauchos’ top-25 finishes in the individual swims was Katie Stover, who took 24th in the 50 free. She posted a time of 23.74 in the final after touching the wall in 23.56 seconds in the prelims.
The Gauchos concluded the day with the 400 medley relay. The women’s team made up of Stover, Yamauchi, Anne Peanasky and Mariah Tharp took 12th with a time of 3:49.78. The men then followed up with a fifth-place finish as Ryan Garcia, Ferguson, Max Horrell and Peterson clocked in at 3:19.55.
After one day of competition, UCSB is currently in fourth place on the men’s side with 278.5 points while Stanford has taken a commanding lead with 1076.5 points. On the women’s end, the Gauchos are in seventh with 228.5 points and Stanford also leads with 1012.5 points.
UCSB will continue action at the Arena Invitational today as they swim the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free relay.
