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.

Mustangs Travel to San Diego

The Cal Poly swimming and diving team traveled to San Diego this past weekend for dual meets against San Diego State and UC San Diego.

The women lost to the Aztecs 147-113, but beat the Tritons 185-113. The men faced only faced the Tritons, and came up short, 214-80.

The women’s duel with San Diego State was held in the long-course-meters format, while most college meets are held in a short-course-yards format.

In that meet, junior Angela Haven won both the 100 and 200-meter breaststrokes with times of 1 minute, 17.09 seconds and 2:41.64, respectively.

Senior Gloria Benefield, who was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s athlete of the week last week, won the 200 backstroke in 2:23.62.

Cal Poly also won the 200 freestyle relay. Sophomores Kelsey Engel, Jillian Jones, and Andrea Voigt team with senior Amy Morales to post a 1:52.11. The Mustangs also took second and third in the event.

The following day the Mustang women took on and defeated the Tritons of UC San Diego (this dual was also held in long-course-meters).

The Mustangs started the day off by claiming the first and second spots in the 1,500 freestyle, as senior Lacey Buck won with a 17:51.54. She was followed by junior Taylor Spivey.

Haven won both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes again, posting times of 1:16.54 and 2:42.04 respectively.

Cal Poly was dominant in the 100 freestyle, taking the top four spots. Sophomore Rachel Cleak led the charge with a 59.50. The Mustangs also went one-two-three in the 200 butterfly, with freshman Belen Enguidanos picking up the win.

Divers Sami McIntyre and Meaghan O’Meara also went one-two in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

For the men, one of the top performer was sophomore Konrad Antoniuk. The distance swimmer took second in the 1500 freestyle with a 16:35.00, losing to Triton Matt Herman by just five seconds. In the 400 freestyle, Antoniuk was again barely best by Herman. The Mustang swam a 4:10.89 but Herman won with a 4:10.16. Antoniuk also won the 400 individual medley in 4:51.92.

For results from the Cal Poly vs. San Diego State duel meet, click here.

For results from the Cal Poly vs. UC San Diego duel meet, 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.