Cal Poly Men Set to Compete at Pac-12 Championships

The Cal Poly Mustangs and seven other teams will compete in the Men’s Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships this week.

The swimmers will travel to East Los Angeles City College. Competition will begin on Wednesday and will conclude on Saturday.

Cal Poly will be sharing the pool with some of the strongest teams in the NCAA: the Arizona Wildcats(1st), Stanford Cardinal (3rd), Southern California Trojans(5th), and California Golden Bears (6th) were all ranked in the top six of Division I teams as of January 25. The Arizona State Wildcats, University of Utah Utes, and UC Santa Barbara Gauchos make up the rest of the conference.

Diver Elliot Adams already competed in the diving portion of the meet this past week in Federal Way. He did three events: the 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform.

For psych sheets for the swim meet, click here.

For live results of the Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championship, click here.

Pac 12 Championships Poll

Mustangs Fall to Gauchos

The Mustangs and Gauchos swam against each other for the second time this season.

In the final regular season meet of the 2011-2012 season, the Cal Poly Mustangs swimming and diving teams came up short against the rival UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.

The men lost by a score of 163-124, while the women fell 169-129 in a meet that was held in Santa Barbara on Saturday.

Senior Lacey Buck won both the 1000 and 500-yard freestyle events. She swam the 1000 in 10 minutes, 22.84 seconds, and won the event by more than five seconds. She later won the 500 with a 5:02.74.

Sophomore diver Sami McIntyre won the 1-meter diving event with 262.50 points. She was followed closely by sophomore teammate Meaghan O’Meara, who tallied 237.08 points. McIntyre went on to also win the 3-meter diving event with 239.48 points.

Although they lost the first relay (200 medley), the Cal Poly women finished the day by getting first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Andrea Voigt, Jill Jones, Amy Morales, and Rachel Cleak teamed to swim a 3:31.79. Teammates Kelsey Engel, Danielle Wong, Vanessa Pollitt, and Padon Sivesind finished second with a 3:39.95.

The 400 freestyle relay was also a strong event for the Mustang men, as they also went 1-2. The “A” team of Omar Dwidar, Mackey Hopen, Matt Jude, and Christian Renfro won with a 3:05.05. Eddie Huang, Drew Casier, Adrian Brynnel, and Jimmy Deiparine comprised the “B” team, which got second with a 3:17.64.

Brynnel, a sophomore, also won the 500 freestyle with a 4:34.89. Fellow distance swimmer and sophomore Konrad Antoniuk won the 1650 freestyle by posting a 15:59.84.

Renfro won the 100 freestyle with a 47.62, which barely beat out the closest Gaucho by about two tenths of a second.

Freshman diver Elliot Adams won the 1-meter event with 257.85 points. He later won the 3-meter event by tallying 273.08 points.

For the men, it was the second loss of the season to the Gauchos. The two teams competed against each other at the Anderson Aquatic Center in early November, and the men lost 167-121.

The women beat UCSB in the first meet, 177.5-117.5, so Saturday marked the their first loss to the Gauchos since early last season.

For complete results of this past Saturday’s Cal Poly vs. UCSB dual meet, click here.

For both the men and women’s squads, dual meet against UCSB was the last competition before their respective conference championships. The women will compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship from February 15-18. The swimmers will be in Los Angeles, while the Divers will travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The men will swim in the Pac-12 Championship. The diving competition is slated to be held in Federal Way, Washington from February 22-25. The swimmers will go to Los Angeles. The swimming portion begins February 29 and concludes on March 3.

Around the Pac-12

Three Pac-12 aquatic juggernauts competed at the McDonald’s Swim Stadium in USC this past weekend. The Trojans hosted the California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal.

On Friday, USC swam against the defending national champion Golden Bears while Stanford swam exhibition. USC fell to Cal 165-125.

On Saturday, the Trojans and Cardinal squared off officially, while Cal swam exhibition. The reigning Pac-12 champion Cardinal came out on top by a score of 175-118.

Stanford and Cal will go head-to-head on February 18 in Palo Alto.

Pac-12 Poll

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.

UCSB @ Cal Poly: a few video clips

UCSB @ Cal Poly, 11/5/11

Photos by Russell Peterson, Nov 5, 2011 – Some photos from the Cal Poly vs. UCSB dual meet, November 5, 2011.

UCSB @ Cal Poly, 11/5/11, posted with vodpod