During yet another beautiful afternoon at Campus Pool, the UC Santa Barbara men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams split a dual meet with visiting Denver on Friday. The Gaucho men cruised to a 168-132 victory while the women were narrowly beaten, 151-149.
Both UCSB swim teams got the meet off to a strong start with each ‘A’ 200 medley taking first place. The women’s team of Allie Knight, Sophia Yamauchi, Anne Peasnasky and Kendall Neely touched the wall in 1:46.36. The men’s squad of Ryan Garcia, Kevin Ferguson, Max Horrell and Chris Peterson finished in 1:32.15.
A pair of freshmen stepped up to the plate in the first individual event as Heren Alanis (10:20.80) and Andrew Barmann (9:31.18) both took the top finish in the 1000 freestyle. Barmann battled through a dogfight of a race with Denver’s Jeremiah Zgliczynski before grabbing the lead on his final turn.
The Gaucho domination continued in the 200 free with Andrea Ward (1:51.72) and Emma Hunt (1:52.48) going one-two for UCSB. Garrett Thompson won on the men’s side in 1:39.77.
Denver’s Gretchen Cohen (58.47) out-touched Allie Knight by .03 seconds to earn the Pioneer’s first individual win in the 100 backstroke. The men, however, were able to keep their first-place streak going with a win by Kevin Ferguson in the 100 back with a mark of 50.51 seconds.
In the 100 breaststroke, Sophia Yamauchi (1:04.04) led the way as the Gauchos swept the top-three finishes. Carissa Metcalf (1:05.97) and Katie Records (1:06.35) finished second and third, respectively. On the men’s side, Evan Simoni opened his senior campaign with a victory and a time of 57.91 seconds.
The tide began to change for the Gaucho women during the 200 butterfly. Tia Toturan took first in 2:04.00, beating out the Gauchos’ top-seed Andrea Ward (2:05.47). Including that event, Denver went on a three-event win streak with Drew Matthews taking first in the 50 free (24.36) and the 100 free (52.29).
The Gaucho men kept their roll going with Max Horrell’s victory in the 200 butterfly (1:51.25) and Chris Peterson’s wins in the 50 free (20.33) and 100 free (44.71). Peterson’s mark in the 50 free was just .04 seconds off of the NCAA ‘B’ standard qualifying time.
UCSB’s women got back on track with Yamauchi’s win in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:03.22. The same event was where the Gaucho men’s eight-event win streak was snapped as Kyle Milberg (1:50.69), who beat out Ryan Garcia (1:51.83) for the top spot.
Denver swept the 200 breast events and the Pioneer women swept first through third place with Bridgette McNally registering the top time of 2:20.88. Tanner Krall beat out Simoni in the men’s heat with a time of 2:05.33, just .10 seconds faster than the Gauchos’ second-place finisher.
The Pioneer men captured two more individual first-place swimming finishes with Clayton Myers capturing the top spot in the 500 free (4:38.01) and the 400 individual medley (4:02.65). Bob Hwang and Max Horrell went one-two for the Gauchos in the 100 fly, finishing in 51.29 seconds and 51.40, respectively.
UCSB topped the meet off with a one-two finish in the 400 free relay. The ‘A’ team of Peterson, Ferguson, Thompson and Kevin Kuhn touched the wall in 3:02.31.
The Gaucho women’s meet was much tighter down the final stretch. Ward captured her second first-place finish of the meet in the 500 free (4:58.03), but Denver took second and third place in the event. In the 100 fly, Emma Hunt placed first in 57.32 seconds, but the Pioneers took third through fourth.
McNally won the 400 IM for Denver in 4:25.32 and the Pioneers were able to enter the final relay with a seven-point advantage.
The Gaucho ‘A’ 400 free relay team of Ward, Tharp, Yamauchi and Hunt finished first in 3:27.29, but Denver captured second and third in the event to secure the three-point victory.
Denver benefited heavily from its strong showing in the meet’s diving events. Liz Yovich won both the one-meter (240.5 points) and three-meter boards (241.13) The Gauchos took second and third on the one-meter with Caila Baltas scoring 213.15 points and Sarah Leipsic tallying 186.15. Baltas was UCSB’s top finisher on the three-meter, taking third with 232.88 points.
For the men, Ross Edfort of Denver won both the one-meter (299.55) and the three-meter (321.08). Erich Brodbeck took second on the one-meter (283.50) and Ryan Gerard took second on the three-meter (259.20) for the Gauchos.
The UCSB swim teams will welcome UC San Diego to Campus Pool next Friday, Nov. 4 for a 1 p.m. meet. The Gaucho divers will simultaneously travel to the two-day USC Diving Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif.
