UCSB came out on top during its final home meet of the 2010-11 season on Saturday at Campus Pool. The Gaucho women’s swim and dive team defeated visiting Pacific, 219-60, and UC Davis, 190-10. On the men’s side, UCSB topped Pacific, 153-102.
Freshman Sophia Yamauchi, the reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Swimmer of the Week, had an outstanding meet as she posted three career bests. Yamauchi won the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.33, which is not just a personal best, but also the second-best time in the MPSF this year. She followed up with a first-place in the 200 breast, touching the wall in 2:14.31, which is also the No. 2 time in the conference. She rounded out her individual swims with the top finish in the 200 individual medley. Her time of 2:02.71 marked her third personal best of the day.
Yamauchi helped the Gaucho women open the meet on a good note as the ‘A’ 200 medley relay team, which also included Allie Knight, Miranda Schneider and Kendall Neely, posted a season-best mark of 1:44.24. The time is the fastest in the conference.
The men’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ medley relays followed with a one-two finish. The team of Kevin Ferguson, Tim Freeman, Max Horrell and Chris Peterson captured the top spot with a time of 1:32.18.
UCSB’s dominance continued through the remainder of the meet. On the women’s side, the Gauchos won nine individual events while the men posted the top time in 12 events.
Andrea Ward continued her recent dominance in the 1,000 free, taking first in 10:08.07. Ward also captured first in the 100 fly (56.65).
UC Davis got its first event victory in the 200 free when Linda Hermann took first in 1:53.05. The Gauchos finished second through fourth with Emma Hunt (1:53.99), Katie Tomkinson (1:54.01) and Anne Peanasky (1:54.56) matching Hermann’s points.
The men’s 200 free was dominated by the Gauchos with Garrett Thompson, Chris Peterson, Lucas Norman and Andrew Dossa sweeping first through fourth. Thompson’s first-place time was 1:40.79.
UCSB followed with another first through fourth sweep in the women’s 100 backstroke. Allie Knight beat out teammates Mariah Tharp, Taylor Munk and Katie Reeves, respectively, with her time of 57.84. Knight was a double-event winner, as she also took first in the 200 back with a time of 2:02.32.
In the men’s 100 back, Ryan Garcia won in 52.36 seconds, beating teammate Max Horrell by .61 seconds. Garcia went on to win the 200 butterfly in 1:55.18 and swam the best time of the day in the 200 backstroke as an exhibition swimmer (1:54.33).
After Yamauchi’s dominance in the 100 breast, Kevin Ferguson captured the men’s win in the same event with a time of 57.46 while Evan Simoni finished second in 59.83. Simoni won the 200 breast (2:07.20) and also had the top time in the 200 IM (1:53.21) while swimming exhibition.
The Gauchos went one-two in both 50 free races. Kendall Neely (23.96) and Mariah Tharp (24.37) topped the women’s field while Ryan Hanni (21.16) and Tim Freeman (21.19) topped the men’s.
UCD got its second event win in the 100 free when Kayleigh Foley touched in 51.94. UCSB’s freestylers once against swept second through fourth place with Tomkinson (53.13), Peanasky (53.17) and Hunt (53.93) touching after the Aggie.
Pacific’s women got their lone event win in the 500 free when Hayley Shillington finished in 5:04.47. Monica Garcia finished second for the Gauchos with a season-best time of 5:06.19.
Other individual event winners during the meet were Miranda Schneider, who won the 200 fly in 2:06.23, Lucas Norman in the 500 free (4:40.66), Randy Aakhus in the 1,000 free (9:55.61) and Max Horrell in the 100 fly (50.88).
The Gauchos concluded the meet by sweeping the 400 free relays. The women’s ‘A’ relay of Neely, Peanasky, Tomkinson and Hunt captured first in 3:31.03. The men’s ‘A’ team of Thompson, Hanni, Norman and Andrew Latimer went 3:06.65 to take first place.
Prior to the swim races, senior Missy Burley represented the Gauchos in the diving competition. Burley finished third in the one-meter with a score of 204.23 and in the three-meter with a score of 200.10, which were both career highs.
UCSB will be back in action on Feb. 12 when it heads to Cal Poly for its final dual meet of the 2010-11 season. The meet is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start.
