Junior Chris Peterson will represent UCSB at the 2011 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships – which are being held Mar. 24-26 in Minneapolis. Peterson will swim both the 50 and 100 freestyle at the meet.
Peterson is the lone Gaucho NCAA qualifier this season. He is seeded eighth in the 50 free with his school-record time of 19.49 seconds. Since he qualified in the 50 free, he was also invited to swim in the 100 free. The junior is seeded 25th in the event with his time of 43.35 seconds, also a UCSB school record.
Heartbreakingly, UCSB had two relays that just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships. The 200 free relay of Peterson, Ryan Hanni, Garrett Thompson and Kevin Ferguson is the No. 14 ranked team nationally in the event; 13 relay teams make the championships. The Gauchos were just .01 seconds slower than Iowa’s 13th-ranked team.
The same group is also ranked 14th in the 400 free relay, they missed the cut in that event by .07 seconds.
Peterson is the first UCSB male swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Pat Cary did so in 2007.
