Feb. 28, 2009
Results
Long Beach, Calif. - In the final day of action at the Big West Conference Championships, senior Jun Huang (Guangzhou, China) led the Tigers to a third place finish on Saturday, Feb. 28 with an individual championship in the 200 Back. The Tigers' men's team placed fourth as a team.
Down to the final event of the day, the Tigers were in a heated race with Cal Poly for third place overall. Pacific sent to the pool senior Jenny Lewis (Hesperia, Calif.), senior Meghan Connor (Burr Ridge, Ill.), freshman Jayme Swalin (Kenmore, Wash.) and junior Devonie Migues (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) in the championship final of the 400 Free Relay. In the event, the Tigers pulled out a third-place, 3:24.79, finish less than two seconds ahead of Cal Poly. Pacific earned 32 points for its finish.
The Mustangs had Amy Morales, Gloria Benefield, Camille Duckett and Karin Schleicher touch the wall with a time of 3:26.23 and 30 points in the day's final event. That race decided the meet, as Pacific finished in third with 529 overall points ahead of Cal Poly in fourth with 526. Should either team have switched places in the relay event, the final results would have also been reversed.
At the beginning of the season, Pacific was unanimously tabbed to finish fifth place in the Big West conference on the 2008-09 year and exceeded expectations with only a 12-woman roster. Those 12 girls took a third-place 2008-09 finish in the conference.
“Swimming with 12 members is kind of like playing with 3.5 people in a basketball game,” head coach Adam Kennedy said. “They did a great job and a third place finish is huge.”
Down with a smaller roster from the 2007-08 season, Pacific was able to improve on last year's fourth-place conference finish as the Tigers finished behind UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC Davis in the 2008 Swimming and Diving Championships.
For the second time during the 2009 Big West Swimming and Diving Championships, Swalin pulled out a top finish in one of her individual races. After claiming the 500 Free two days ago, Swalin took second in a field of 16 during the final round of the 1650 Free. Swalin touched the wall in 16:47.60, giving Pacific 17 points behind Cal Poly's Lacy Buck, who won the event in 16:34.55. Junior KC Albiston (Salt Lake City, Utah) dominated the event throughout the dual-meet season and in the Big West Championships turn in a fifth-place, 17:11.96 finish.
Lewis accounted for another top-10 finish, as she recorded a time of 50.20 and a fourth-place finish in the 100 Free. Migues also notched a fourth place finish, when she went 2:19.67 in the 200 Breast.
As a team, the Tigers have now closed out the season, but several players have earned NCAA B-Cut standards to earn them consideration for competition in the NCAA championships for all Division I universities in March.
2009 Big West Swimming & Diving Championships
Women's Results
1. UC Santa Barbara - 880
2. UC Davis - 745
3. Pacific - 529
4. Cal Poly - 526
5. UC Irvine - 417
6, Cal State Northridge - 239
Men's Results
1. UC Santa Barbara - 849.5
2. UC Davis - 832.5
3. UC Irvine - 636.5
4. Pacific - 426.5
5. Cal Poly - 363
6. Cal State Northridge - 219
