In the final dual meet of the 2010-11 season, the UCSB swim and dive teams split at Cal Poly. The men topped the Mustangs, 116-114, while the women came up short, 142-99.
The Gauchos got off to solid starts in the 400 medley relay as both teams won the event. The women’s ‘A’ relay team of Allie Knight, Sophia Yamauchi, Andrea Ward and Anne Peanasky posted a solid time of 3:50.03 and beat out Cal Poly’s top relay by over four seconds. The Gaucho men’s team, which was made up of Ryan Garcia, Tim Freeman, Max Horrell and Chris Peterson captured first place in 3:21.24.
Cal Poly flexed its muscles in the distance events as Lacey Buck captured the first Mustang win of the day in the 1,000 free (10:25.15), but Gauchos Astrid Amsallem (10:28.08) and Katie Reeves (10:38.13) finished two-three, each posting season-bests in the event.
Ward was the first individual event winner for the Gauchos, as she took first in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:52.29. Yamauchi placed second, just .49 seconds behind her teammate. On the men’s side, Cal Poly’s Chase Nick captured the event win (1:38.88) with Garrett Thompson (1:40.04) and Ryan Hanni (1:42.79) rounding out the top-three finishes, respectively.
Kendall Neely and Chris Peterson took first in the 50 free events. Neely won the women’s heat in 23.79 while Peterson beat out teammate Kevin Ferguson (20.58) with a time of 20.17 seconds.
The Cal Poly women gained momentum in the meet as they proceeded to win the 400 individual medley, one-meter diving and the 200 fly. The UCSB women won just two more events the rest of the way: Allie Knight captured first in the 200 backstroke (2:04.15) and Yamauchi won the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.14.
The Mustang men also took the top finish in the 400 IM, but the Gauchos took second through fourth with Garcia (4:04.87), Evan Simoni (4:06.90) and Randy Aakhus (4:07.35) teaming up to neutralize first-place finisher Peter Kline’s (3:56.35) points in the event.
UCSB’s men gained momentum behind wins in the 200 butterfly by Max Horrell (1:51.34), the 100 free by Ryan Hanni (45.46) and the 200 breaststroke by Tim Freeman (2:04.95).
Heading into the final event – the men’s 200 freestyle relay – Cal Poly was ahead, 110-103. The Mustang relay team proved to be no match for the Gauchos as Peterson, Hanni, Thompson and Ferguson finished first in 1:20.16, over five seconds faster than Cal Poly. UCSB also needed the third-place points to capture the meet win and the ‘B’ relay came through as Dylan Templeton, Scott Nocco, Max Horrell and Alex Campbell finished right behind the Mustang ‘A’ team with a time of 1:26.93.
The UCSB swimming and diving teams will be back in action at their conference championships. The women are up first as they head to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, which will be held in Long Beach the weekend of Feb. 23.26. The Pac-10 men’s diving championships will be held the same weekend in Federal Way, Wash. The men’s swim championships will take place in Long Beach the weekend of March 2-5.
