BAKERSFIELD — The UC Santa Barbara swimming and diving teams were back in action on the road against Cal State Bakersfield Saturday afternoon at Hillman Aquatics Complex. In their first dual meet since Nov. 3, UCSB swept the competition with the men winning 184-115, while the women defeated CSUB 162-132.
UCSB was in control from the start as they won the first 11 out of 12 events to start the meet. In total, the Gauchos won 22 out of 32 events on the day. The men won 12 out of 16 events, and the women won 10 out of 16 events.
The day began with the 200 medley relays and the women’s ‘A’ relay team of Marissa Neel, Carissa Metcalf, Anne Peanasky and Katie Tomkinson took first place with a time of 1:46.67. The ‘B’ relay of Allie Knight, Charis Hoppe, Madison Tedesco and Kimmie Kreuzberger finished right behind them in second place (1:48.46). The men’s ‘A’ squad of Collin Baratte, Tim Freeman, Wade Allen and Alexander Campbell took first place as well in a time of 1:34.43.
In the distance events, Andrea Ward came away with victory in the women’s 1000 yard freestyle (10:28.99). For the men’s 1000 yard freestyle, Andrew Barmann took second place with a time of 9:38.94.
Ward would later go on to win the 200 butterfly in 2:07.32. She was one of six other Gauchos to come away with multiple victories in the meet.
Hannah Tomp, the only other women with two victories, came up huge by winning both diving events. She posted a score of 235 to come home with victory in the one-meter boards, while winning on the three-meter board as well.
For the men, Freeman continued his stellar season with victories in the 100 breaststroke (57.37) and 200 breaststroke (2:06.85).
Josh Smith won both the 100 backstroke (52.58) and 200 backstroke (1:53.93).
Allen won the 50 freestyle (21.27) and the 100 butterfly (50.06).
Mickey Mowry touched the wall first in both the 200 freestyle (1:41.89) and the 200 butterfly (1:50.53).
The Gauchos posted one-two-three finishes in five different events which helped them to extend their lead throughout the meet.
The women’s 100 breaststroke saw Metcalf take first (1:06.56), Hoppe second (1:07.92) and Erica Taylor third (1:08.15). The women’s 200 backstroke featured Senior Paige Bradley claiming victory in 2:23.19, Taylor finishing second and Hope Curran third.
The Gaucho men dominated the 200 individual medley, especially Randy Aakhus who came out on top in 1:55.66. Andy Castilleja finished second in 1:56.13 and Smith took third in 1:58.70.
Other individual winners on the day included Neel (100 backstroke), Sophia Yamauchi (200 freestyle) for the women and Campbell (100 freestyle) for the men.
While Tomp delivered in women’s diving with two victories, Erich Brodbeck had a solid performance on the men’s side. He posted two second place finishes with a score of 270.96 in the three-meter boards and 264.55 in the one-meter boards.
UCSB wrapped up the day just like it began with a dominating relay performance. This time, the men’s ‘A’ team of Chase Lemley, Allen, Lucas Norman and Campbell won the 400 freestyle relay by four seconds with a time of 3:05.43.
The Gaucho divers next compete at the UCLA Diving Invitational Jan.11-13, while the swim teams travel to UNLV on Jan. 19.
