Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Invitational wound to a close Saturday morning, with the Tigers coming away with a solid showing in the two-day meet. Pacific finished the weekend in in second place for both the men's and women's teams, with the men putting up 900 points and the women scoring 659. Coach Peter Richardson thought the meet "[gave] us a lot of information" on the team's performance going forward, saying that "it [showed] we're really taking care of business the other six days a week when we don't race."
Pacific's team of Haley Preston, Cristina Mardones, Kenna Ramey, and Vaiva Gimbutyte started the day with a second place finish in the 400 Medley Relay thanks to their finishing time of 3:52.98. It was one of many successful relays for the Tigers, who routinely finished in the top two in most relay events.
The men's team shined in the relays, with the team of Josh Owens, Maxwell Peterson, Brandon Presswood, and Sheldon Simas winning their heat in the 200 Free Relay with a time of 1:26.98 and Makoa Haneberg, Miles MacKenzie, Mitchell Ongstad, and Yahav Shahaff coming in second in their heat at 1:24.05. Pacific's team of Georan Meendering, Jared Vu, Stewart Harrison, and Lane Goedhart took third in the same heat thanks to their 1:25.25 time.
On the women's side, the team of Preston, Roslyn Kackman, Lauren Holden, and Cai Hong Singh won their 200 Free Relay heat, finishing in 1:40.58. Gimbutyte, Ramey, Meredith Lillie, and Mardones came in third in the next heat with the time of 1:37.21. Richardson was very optimistic about the relay performances, saying that "relays matter, relays win championships."
Finishing up the day, Jana Burkard had a strong showing in the 1650 Free for the Tigers after a successful 200 sprint the day before. Burkard finished second in the 1650 Free with a time of 17:33.58. Burkard also swam the 500 Free Saturday, finishing at 4:59.76, good for second place. It was the first time this season Burkard has swam the 500 Free.
Nicholas Nord swam the 1650 Free for the men in the day's last event, finishing in 16:49.48, good for fourth. Richardson was happy with Nord's effort, saying that he "went out like a champ and just held on." Nord also took second place in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:54.97 while Whitney Jorgensen took second for the women at 2:06.49.
Mardones and Singh finished the 200 Back strong as well, placing first and second in their heat. Mardones took first with a time of 2:06.24, while Singh came in second at 2:12.52. On the men's side, Curtis Klein's 1:49.75 in the 200 Back was good enough for second place.
Richardson gave the team the highest praise for their effort, singling out swimmers like Colin Craig, who "was just trucking on that 1650" and Jana Burkard. "[The team] really brought it and I was very proud of that," said Richardson.
The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, November 7 when the women's team hosts the Fresno State Bulldogs and Oregon State Beavers at 11:00 am. The men's team will also take on the Denver Pioneers at that time at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
Make sure to follow Pacific swimming on Twitter with the username @PacTigersH2O and on Instagram at pacificswimteam.
