Results
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Pacific Men's and Women's Swimming teams concluded action at the UNLV Invite with two victories in the 400 Free Relay and first place finishes in the women's 100 Individual Medley, men's 100 Medley Relay, and the women's 200 Breaststroke.
Overall on the weekend Pacific broke six program records.
"it was really fun to swim fast this weekend, but the mid season races are not all about swimming fast," said head coach Peter Richardson. "The goal is to learn as much as we can at the mid-season meet and use what we learn on the back half of our season."
"We take what we learn and build a plan of success," added Richardson.
The Tigers men's program finished second in the team rankings with 737.5 points, while the women were third with 600 points. Santa Barbara won in both the men's and women's standings.
The men's 400 Free Relay team was an exciting finish for the Tigers as the win was determined by two-hundredths of a second. Miles MacKenzie, who swam an extremely fast split of 19.9 to stretch past UC Santa Barbara's Mason Tittle, propelling his finger tips to the wall first. MacKenzie teamed up with Mason Miller, Yahav Shahaf, and Dylan Toy for a time of 2:56.31.
The men's B-team — Neil Franka, Makoa Haneberg, Josh Owens, Niles Biolley — also scored in the event, finishing fifth with a time of 2:59.88. Franka highlighted the groups performance with his 44.5 second lead off split.
On the women's side, Kenna Ramey, Cai Hong Singh, Becca Aguilar, and Meredith Lillie clocked a winning time of 3:24.31 to claim the relay win.
In addition Ramey earned her third individual win this weekend, breaking her how record in the 100 IM with a time 56.37. Also scoring in the A final was Kathleen Gani, finishing fourth with a time of 58.03.
Angela Gagliardo also won her third individual title of the weekend. After winning the 200 IM and 400 IM over the last two days, she claimed a record-breaking second-place finish in the 200 Breaststroke. Gagliardo's time of 2:13.94 surpasses the previous program record of 2:14.51, which was set by former Tiger Whitney Jorgensen in 2017. Elina Rosario was eighth (2:20.54) in the 200 Breast A-final.
"I am really proud of Angela and her performances this weekend and Kenna won every race she participated in, so as a whole our women's team really shined," expressed Richardson. "The women really stepped up this weekend, for example Becca Aguilar had an amazing split in the 400 Relay to play a huge role in the team win."
Taylor Hosmer also had an A-final appearance on Saturday, finishing fifth with a time of 2:03.03 in the 200 Fly.
Brigid McNally was fourth in the 1650 Free, while Becca Aguilar was Pacific's top finisher in the 100 Free (9th, 51.28) and Isabella Green was the top finisher in the 200 Back (24th, 2:10.92).
Franka had another great day in the water, coming in first with a time of 49.80 in the men's 100 IM. His preliminary time smashed the previous record of 48.89, set by fellow Pacific swimmer Shahaf in 2016. The senior then went on to earn a fourth place finish (1:49.00) in the 200 Fly.
Also scoring points in the 100 IM was Shahaf (2nd, 49.94), Haneberg (5th, 50.66), and Toy (8th, 56.26). Other top finishers for the men were Angel Alcala in the 200 Back (1:47.34), Mackezie in the 100 Free (44.90), Bradley Reno in the 200 Breast (2:04.46), and Brandon Yong in the 1650 Free (16:36.74).
"The excitement from the team was pretty amazing," concluded Richardson.
To see some of the exciting moments at the UNLV Invite check out the Pacific Aquatics Instagram @PacTigersH2O.
The Tigers will take a break from competition until January 20, when they host UC Santa Barbara on the program's senior day.
