The UCSB women’s swimming and diving team placed second at the first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship on Saturday night. The Gauchos scored 629 points, edging out third-place Cal Poly by 15 points, but falling short against UC Davis (726 points).
At this weekend’s meet, UCSB won six event titles, posted 11 NCAA `B’ qualifying times and set four new school records.
Allie Knight won the Gauchos’ first title of the day in the 200 backstroke. The freshman posted a school-record time of 1:58.21, which breaks the previous record set by Lindsay Dalonzo in 2003 by .11 seconds. Taylor Munk also qualified for the event’s final and took sixth with a time of 2:04.73 (she swam a season-best time of 2:03.99 in the prelims).
Paige Bradley captured UCSB’s second win of the day in the 200 butterfly. She finished in 2:01.62 and posted a season-best in the event’s prelims (2:01.53). Monica Garcia won the event’s consolation final in 2:05.19 and Laurel Ferguson (2:05.59) and Miranda Schneider (2:05.66) took 11th and 13th place, respectively.
Saturday’s finals began with the 1650 freestyle. Andrea Ward took second with a time of 16:49.91. The event winner was Cal Poly’s Lacey Buck, who finished in 16:25.27. Katie Reeves took sixth in 17:14.00 while teammate Astrid Amsallem finished seventh in 17:15.12. Emma Hunt rounded out the Gaucho point-scorers in the 1650; she touched the wall in 17:33.50.
In the 200 breaststroke, Sophia Yamauchi took second in the event with a time of 2:12.27 a NCAA `B’ cut. UC Davis’ Lilian Alvarez edged her out by .23 seconds.
Kendall Neely was the lone Gaucho to qualify for the 50 free final, she took sixth with a season-best time of 50.80. In the 50 free consolation finals, Anne Peanasky took fourth in the heat and 12th overall in 51.75 seconds.
In the final event of the evening, the 400 free relay, the Gaucho team of Kendall Neely, Andrea Ward,Katie Tomkinson and Sophia Yamauchi took second in 3:21.53, which is a NCAA `B’ cut.
The 2011 NCAA Championships will be held in Austin, Texas the week of March 17-19 at the University of Texas’ Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
