Feb. 25, 2009
Results
Long Beach, Calif. - In the first day of the 2009 Big West Men's and Women's Swimming Championships, the Tigers put forth one of their best single-day efforts as the men finished their record-breaking competition in first place, while the women closed out the day in second on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
After three events, the men compiled 114 team points, while the women posted 105.
While swimmers from UC Santa Barbara combined for first-place finishes in the men's and women's 200 Medley Relay to open up the day, and UC Davis recorded first-place finishes in the 800 Free Relay, Pacific was able to put together more of a balanced team win, combining several individual top-10 performances to take the lead in the overall points total.
Pacific racked up the most points in the 1000 Free, as three men and three women cracked the top 10 in the distance event. Senior Matt Lundy (Lafayette, Colo.) and freshman Jayme Swalin (Kenmore, Wash.) took second place finishes and 17 points for the men and women, respectively.
Lundy's 9:08.34 broke the previous Big West record of 9:08.83 set by Scott Weltz of UC Santa Barbara in 2007. However, his record did not set a championship record, with UC Davis's Alex Arbios speeding out to a 9:01.78 finish and new conference-best mark. Senior Maxwell Maris (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) pulled out a sixth-place finish with his 9:19.50 speed, while senior Jason Dupere's (Santa Maria, Calif.) 9:26.33 sealed the Tigers a seventh-place finish behind Maris.
In the women's 1000 Free, Swalin's 9:58.52 gave the Tigers second place, in front of junior KC Albiston's (Salt Lake City, Utah) fifth-place 10:17.16 time and junior Brooke Cashion's (Irvine, Calif.) 10:22.86 finish.
The Tiger men's and women's squads put forth a third-place finish in the 200 Medley Relay, for 32 points a piece. For the men's championship final, junior Dave Mathews (Dublin, Ireland), seniorsDave Platow (Westport, Conn.), BJ Damazo (Paradise, Calif.) and Justin Canty (El Cajon, Calif.) touched in third place with a 1:31.10 finish on the evening. Also finishing third in the event with a 1:42.39 pace, seniors Jun Huang (Guanzhou, China), April Woo (Honolulu, Hawaii), Jenny Lewis (Hesperia, Calif.) and junior Melissa McGhee (Elk Grove, Calif.) paced Pacific behind UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis, respectively.
The women closed out the day with a fourth-place 7:31.17 time in the 800 Medley Relay, while the men finished in the same spot after touching in 6:42.90.
Pacific returns to the pool tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 26 for the second of the four-day Big West Swimming and Diving Championships.
Day 1 Women's Big West Championship Team Results:
1. UC Santa Barbara 117
2. Pacific 105
3.UC Davis 98
4. Cal Poly 91
5. UC Irvine 70
6. Cal State Northridge 54
Day 1 Men's Big West Championship Team Results:
1. Pacific 114
2. UC Santa Barbara 101
3. UC Davis 81
4. Cal Poly 80
5. UC Irvine 76
6. Cal State Northridge 56
