Swimming Trips To Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara For Dual Meets

In their final tune-up before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, the Pacific men's and women's swimming teams will hit the pool for a pair of meets this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 1-2.

Both squads will square off against conference foe Cal Poly on Friday at 2 p.m. before traveling to UC Santa Barbara for a meet on Saturday at 11 a.m. On Saturday, Loyola Marymount's women's team will join the Tigers and the Gauchos in the pool.

Pacific's men's squad has spent the last month training in advance for the MPSF Championships. The team's last dual meet came back on Jan. 5, when it faced nationally ranked Stanford at the Avery Aquatic Center. The Tigers fell to the Cardinal, 159-92, but had a number of solid times after coming off of a grueling training trip in Las Vegas, Nev.

Junior Dai Wilson came in third in 100 Fly with a time of 50.73, beating two Stanford swimmers in the process. Three other Pacific swimmers had fourth-place showings as junior Oliver Simkovic, sophomore Casey Fleming and senior Zachary Zlotoff took fourth in the 100 Back (51.80), the 50 Free (21.75) and the 500 Free (4:51.51), respectively.

The Tigers' women last competed on Jan. 12, when they faced rival UC Davis in a dual meet at the Schaal Aquatics Center. Pacific lost to the Aggies, 176.5-106.5, despite recording some solid times on the day.

Freshman Cristina Mardones swam well for the Tigers, taking second in both the 200 Breast (2:20.31) and the 200 IM (2:08.94). Senior Mallory McGowan added a second-place finish in the 100 Breast behind a time of 1:05.89. Fellow senior Allie Vetterlein recorded Pacific's lone third-place finish, clocking in at 2:09.30 in the 200 IM.

Cal Poly has only competed in two dual meets throughout the season. The Mustang women own a 1-1 record while their men remain winless. UCSB's men's team is 3-2 in dual meets while the Gaucho's women's squad sits at 5-3. LMU's women are 2-3 in dual meets this season.