Oct. 11, 2008
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State swimming and diving team opened its 2008-09 season in nail-biting fashion and dropped a 168-132 decision to Utah at Aztec Aquaplex Saturday afternoon. SDSU (0-1; 0-1 Mountain West Conference) led after 12 events, but could not pull off the upset as the Utes (5-0; 1-0 MWC) took the final four events, including both the one- and three-meter diving competitions.
Overall, San Diego State won five events on the day beginning with the 200 medley relay. The quartet of Brooke Vessey, Jeneatte Engzell, Elisabeth Krueger and Alexis McCoy combined to post a first-place time of 1 minute, 46.31 seconds, more than three seconds better than second-place Utah (1:49.52).
In the 1,000 freestyle, SDSU claimed three of the top four spots, including first and second place. Ashley Flynn won the race with a time of 10:24.71 and was followed by teammate Bojana Duric, who posted a time of 10:33.64. Jamie Vessey, meanwhile, helped the Aztecs add to their team score with her fourth-place effort of 10:50.61.
Brooke Vessey continued her strong day by winning the 100 backstroke by edging Utah's Beth Gunderson in one of the closest events of the day. The sophomore from Redlands, Calif., won the event with a time of 57.85, just ahead of Gunderson, who touched the pad in 57.94. Other Aztecs to earn points were Kelsy Diener (59.63; 4th) and Shaida Solimani (1:00.31; 5th).
San Diego State was also victorious in both breaststroke events. In the 100, Engzell emerged with the win after recording a time of 1:05.47 and then came back to notch her third overall victory of the day with her winning 200 time of 2:20.54.
Krueger, Brooke Vessey, Diener and Ashley Flynn added second-place performances to help SDSU make the outcome interesting. Krueger completed the 200 butterfly in 2:06.72, while Vessey posted a runner-up effort in the 100 free (53.67). Diener, meanwhile, just missed winning the 200 back with a clocking of 2:05.98 and Flynn earned second place after posting a time of 5:07.86.
Megan Flanagan recorded San Diego State's best score of the day on the three-meter board, accumulating 232.35 points to finish in third place. Teammate Alexandra Barstad came in right behind her with 230.00 points, the fourth-most among all divers. In one-meter diving, the two Aztecs flip-flopped positions with Barstad finishing in third (218.40) and Flanagan coming in fourth (218.00).
SDSU returns to the pool on Oct. 25 when it plays host to Air Force, Colorado State and New Mexico in a Mountain West quad meet at Aztec Aquaplex. Competition is set for 1 p.m. PT.