MPSF Day Three

This past Friday was the third day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Swimming and Diving championships, and the Cal Poly women’s team continued to tear up the water at East Los Angeles City College.

Senior Kylie France led off the finals session Friday night with a second place finish in the 400-yard individual medley. France finished in 4 minutes, 19.07 seconds, which was just under the NCAA B-Cut. Sophomore Amanda Maffris was also a finalist in the 400 individual medley, and placed fifth with a 4:21.17.

In the 100 butterfly, senior Gloria Benefield finished seventh with a time of 56.31. She also placed fourth in the 100 backstroke with a 56.20. She was followed closely by teammates Katrina Anderson (a junior) and Amy Morales (a senior), who placed sixth and eighth, respectively.

In the 200 freestyle, Cal Poly had two swimmers in the consolation finals. Sophomores Jill Jones and Andrea Voigt finished ninth and eleventh, respectively. In the bonus heat of the event, two more Mustangs, sophomore Danielle Wong and junior Taylor Spivey, also competed.

Junior Angela Haven earned a fifth place finish in the 100 breaststroke, with a time of 1:03.11.

The Mustangs finished off the session with a third place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Morales and Jones teamed with sophomores Rachel Cleak and Kelsey Engel to post a 1:34.46.

In Colorado Springs, Colo., the Mustang women divers finished off their meet with the 1-meter event. Sophomore Meaghan O’Meara scored 241.5 points to place sixth, and sophomore Sami McIntyre tallied 212.40 points to earn eighth.

The Mustangs finished Friday in third place, with 342.5 points. They trailed Brigham Young University (490.5) and UC Santa Barbara (482).

MPSF Day 2

The Cal Poly women’s swimming and diving team made up a lot of ground in the team standings after their performances yesterday in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.

Senior Lacy Buck qualified first in prelims in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 51.83 seconds. In finals she swam a 4:54.27 to finish fifth.

Also scoring in the 500 freestyle was senior Kylie France, who swam the event in 4:57.17.

In the 200 individual medley, junior Katrina Anderson and Angela Haven finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Anderson posted a time of 2:04.93, and Haven finished in 2:05.23. Junior Chrissy Thomas placed tenth in the event with a time of 2:03.96.

Senior Amy Morales was a top eight finisher in the 50 freestyle, and recorded a time of 23.63. Sophomores Jill Jones, Andrea Voigt and Kelsey Engel also scored in the shortest event of the meet.

Cal Poly finished fourth in the 400 medley relay. Haven and Voigt teamed with  senior Gloria Benefield and sophomore Rachel Cleak to post a time of 3:45.62.

Sophomore divers Sami McIntyre and Meaghan O’Meara placed fourth and seventh in the 3-meter diving event, respectively.

After the first day of competition (only the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay were swum on Wednesday, the first day of competition) Cal Poly was in last place out of nine teams. After Thursday’s events, Cal Poly is now in fourth in the team standings, with 167.5 points. They trail UC Santa Barbara (258), Brigham Young University (244.5), and UC Davis (185).

The MPSF Swimming and Diving Championships continues today, and concludes on Saturday.

For live results, click here.

Cal Poly Defeats UC Santa Cruz

The Cal Poly Mustang swimming and diving team hosted UC Santa Cruz at the Anderson Aquatic Center yesterday for a dual meet. Both the men and the women came out with dominating victories.

The Mustang men won by a score of 214-70.

The score for the women was even more lopsided: 217-63.

The Mustangs swept the Division III Banana Slugs in every event in the dual meet on both the men’s and women’s sides.

For the men, freshman Jimmy Deiparine won both the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes. He took the 100 by posting a time of 59.60 seconds. In the 200 he swam a 2:14.05 and won by more than three seconds. He also swam the breaststroke leg on Cal Poly’s winning 200 medley relay.

Sophomore Adrian Brynnel won the 1000 freestyle by nearly 20 seconds, swimming the distance event in a time of 9:39.29. He went on to dominate the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:39.94, about 14 seconds faster than his closest competitor.

Sophomore Konrad Antoniuk was also a double event winner for the Mustangs. He claimed first in the 400 individual medley with a 4:06.82, and took the 200 butterfly by posting a 1:55.17.

For the women, sophomre Rachel Cleak won two of her three events. Cleak won the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly with times of 52.59 and 58.52, respectively. She was also the runner-up in the 50 freestyle.

Angela Haven also won two of her three swims. The junior claimed the 100 and 200 breaststrokes by posting times of 1:06.42 and 2:21.11, respectively. She got second in the 100 butterfly.

Senior distance swimmer Lacey Buck, swimming in her last meet at the Anderson Aquatic Center for Cal Poly, won both the 500 and 1000 freestyles.

The Mustangs will hit the water again at UC Santa Barbara for a rematch with the rival Gauchos on February 4.

Winter Nationals Day 2

Swimmers from the San Luis Obispo area took to the water this morning in Atlanta, Ga., on the second day of the 2011 AT&T Winter National Championships.

Puma Aquatic swimmer Zachary Stevens swam the 100-meter breaststroke in 1 minute, 4.94 seconds. The 16-year-old will swim the 200 breaststroke on Saturday.

His teammate, 17-year-old Amelia Schachter, also swam the 100 breaststroke. She posted a time of 1:13.28.

Five Cal Poly swimmers also competed Friday morning.

Junior Angela Haven swam two of her four total events Friday. She started her day off by swimming the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.61. Later in the session, she put up a 1:05.94 in the 100 butterfly.

Two of her teammates joined her in the 100 butterfly. Senior Gloria Benefield posted a 1:03.86, and sophomore Rachel Cleak swam it in 1:04.67.

Senior Kylie France swam the 400 individual medley in 5:07.94.

Senior Aaron Mckinnon competed in the 200 freestyle, swimming it in a time of 1:56.68.

The meet will conclude tomorrow.

For live results, click here.

Local Swimmers Headed to Senior Nationals

Puma swimmer Zachary Stevens prepares for a race at the 2011 Junior Nationals, where he qualified for Olympic Trials. Stevens will be traveling to Atlanta, Ga., to compete in the AT&T winter National Championships.

A number of swimmers from San Luis Obispo will travel to Atlanta, Ga., for the U.S. Senior Nationals swim meet, which is being held this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

The AT&T Winter National Championships, which is usually competed in the short course yards format, is going to be competed in long course meters, due to the fact it is an Olympic year (the Olympic Trials and Olympics are held in long course meters).The venue for the meet is the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

Nine Cal Poly Mustangs will be competing in the meet.

Representing the Mustang men is distance swimmer Konrad Antoniuk. Antoniuk, an electrical engineering sophomore, will swim the 1500-meter freestyle and 400 freestyle.

The only other male Cal Poly swimmer is senior Aaron Mckinnon, who is swimming the 200 and 50 freestyles.

Seven Mustang women will also be making the trip. Junior Angela Haven is entered in the most events, with four: the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, 200 individual medley, and 100 butterfly.

Senior Kylie France is also swimming the 200 breaststroke, in addition to the 400 individual medley and 200 butterfly. Joining her in the 200 butterfly will be teammates Gloria Benefield (senior) and Belen Enguidanos (freshman).

Benefield is also slated to swim the 200 backstroke and 100 butterfly. Sophomore Rachel Cleak will join her in the 100 butterfly, while junior Katrina Anderson will swim the 200 backstroke.

Senior Amy Morales is entered in the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle.

Cal Poly swimmer Konrad Antoniuk will swim the 1500 and 400 freestyles this week in Atlanta.

Two swimmers from the Puma Aquatic swim team will also take to the water in Atlanta. 16-year-old Zachary Stevens will swim the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, while teammate Amelia Schachter, 17, will compete in the 100 breaststroke.

San Luis Obispo Swim Club and former Cal Poly swimmer Zachary Cutts will also swim the 200 breaststroke.

These local talents will be sharing the pool with some of the biggest names in the sport, including Ryan Lochte, Nathan Adrian, Melissa (Missy) Franklin, Elizabeth Beisel, Dana Vollmer, and Kosuke Kitajima.

The Winter Championships is the last major national competition before the 2012 US Olympic team Trials, which will take place in Omaha, Neb., next June and July.

For complete psych sheets, click here.

Blue-Green Rivalry Renewed in the Pool

Story Highlights

• The Cal Poly women’s swimming and diving team beat the UCSB Gauchos 177.5-117.5
• It was only the second time the Mustang women have defeated UCSB in a dual meet
• The Cal Poly men fell 167-121

The start of the men's 100 backstroke during the dual meet between Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara.

The Cal Poly Mustangs swimming and diving team hosted the rival UC Santa Barbara Gauchos for a dual meet Saturday at the Anderson Aquatics Center.

The Gaucho men were victorious over Cal Poly, winning by a score of 167-121. But the Mustang women beat UCSB for only the second time in history, winning 177.5-117.5.

The Mustang women got out to an early lead by winning the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. They beat out UCSB by just over three tenths of a second, and were in control for the rest of the meet.

“I talked to them all week about the power of winning and winning early,” Cal Poly head coach Tom Milich said.

One of the members of that relay and one of Cal Poly’s top scorers was kinesiology junior Angela Haven. Haven won the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.73 seconds. She was also the runner-up in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, posting times of 1:06.33 and 2:17.76, respectively.

“I feel really good. I’m really happy with how this season is coming together,” Haven said. “I am swimming so much faster than I did in my freshman year.”

The Gaucho that was able to keep Haven from winning all three of her individual events was sophomore Sophia Yamauchi. Yamauchi touched out Haven to win the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, and also the 400 individual medley. However, her performance was not enough to beat the deep Mustangs.

“We really pulled together as a team and showed some heart,” Haven said. “We won some events, but we also created some depth.”

Seniors Lacey Buck and Gloria Benefield were both double event winners for Cal Poly. Buck won the 1000 and 500 freestyles, while Benefield took the 100 and 200 backstrokes. She was also a member of the winning 200 medley relay team.

But one of the keys to the Mustang victory was their dominance in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Cal Poly went one-two-three in both events. Liberal studies sophomore Sami McIntyre was the victor in both events, while kinesiology sophomore Meaghan O”Meara was the runner-up.

“I felt really good about my performance at the meet. There were only a couple dives where I felt I could have done better on, but over all I was very pleased,” O’Meara said. “The competition was tough and I knew our swim team needed all the points we could get. When we swept both the diving events I was really proud of my team.”

Cal Poly's Andrew Casier swims through the 100 butterfly at Saturday's dual meet.

Although the Cal Poly men did not pull off a win, they still had some good performances. Leading the charge was electrical engineering sophomore Konrad Antoniuk. The distance-swimmer won the 1000 freestyle by almost four seconds. He also won the 500 freestyle by touching out his teammate, economics sophomore Adrian Brynnel.

One of the most exciting races of the day was the final 400 freestyle relay. Cal Poly trailed the Gauchos for much of the race, but on the final 50 freshman Christian Renfro surged and pulled slightly ahead of Gaucho freshman Steven Ewoldt. The two battled on the last lap, but Ewoldt barely touched out Renfro by one one hundredth of a second to clinch the Gaucho win.

The Mustangs and Gauchos will clash in the pool again on February 4, in Santa Barbara.

Cal Poly will next compete in the Mustang Invitational, which they will host at the Anderson Aquatics Center this coming Friday and Saturday.

For complete results from the UCSB dual meet, click here.