Las Vegas, Nev. - Making it a perfect weekend in the desert at the UNLV Invite, sophomore Margaux Verger Gourson saved the best for last with a win in the 1650 Free to end the invitational on Monday, Dec. 15. The second-year standout came up with the tough triple once again as she swept the 200, 500, and 1650 Free over the three day event to lead the way for the Tigers. Overall, the Tiger women finished the meet in fifth place out of 11 with 522 points while the men came in second out of six spots with 750 points.
After setting a school record in the 500 Free on the opening day, Verger Gourson followed up her record performance with a swim that may put her in the NCAA Championships later in the season as she posted an NCAA "B" cut time in the 1650 Free after touching the wall at 16:09.06. Not only did her time put her in contention for the championships, it shattered the Tigers' previous program record of 16:24.87 set by Laura McDonald in 2006. In addition to destroying the Pacific record, Verger Gourson lapped the field at UNLV as she finished nearly a full minute ahead of her closest competition in her teammate, Jana Burkard, who posted a time of 16:54.13 while swimming unattached.
Outside of Verger Gourson's dominance, the Tigers had their best day of the meet on the final day as they took home second place finishes in four of the evening's 12 events. Continuing the distance swims, the men saw senior Brandon Chandler posted a second place finish in the 1650 Free as he came in with a time of 16:01.32 in Pacific's first go at the mile on the men's side. In the 200 Back, the Tigers picked up second place finishes in both the women's and the men's events as Haley Preston posted a time of 2:00.57 while Curtis Klein touched in at 1:48.48. Preston just missed the meet victory as she finished just .57 seconds back of the event champion from UNLV. Both Preston and Klein set new season-bests in their respective events, marks each held from previous meets earlier in the season.
Jonathan Pun picked up the Tigers' final second place finish a few events later as he grabbed a time of 2:06.15 in the 200 Breast to pace Pacific. His time set a season-best mark for the Tigers', beating his own previous best on the year by over a full second.
The Tigers will take a break for the winter holiday before returning to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 10 at Stanford. The Tiger men and the Cardinal will meet in duel meet action beginning at 10:00 am at Avery Aquatic Center.
