Feb. 7, 2009
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State, behind a pair of first-place finishes from Jeanette Engzell and a sweep of both diving events, defeated the University of San Diego, 175-125, Saturday afternoon at the USD Sports Center Pool. It was the final dual meet of the 2008-09 season for the Aztecs who conclude their campaign with a 9-6 mark.
Engzell took top honors in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke with times of 1:05.40 and 2:20.55 respectively. The freshman from Sweden has been a force in her specialty all season long, setting the SDSU record in the 200 last weekend and turning in the second-fastest time ever for an Aztec earlier this season. Junior Jessica Morrill finished second in both of those events on Saturday as well to score points for the Aztecs.
San Diego State divers went one-two-three in both the one-and three-meter events. In the former Caitlin Atkinson took top honors with a score of 263.48, her best mark of the season. She was followed by teammates Alex Barstad (247.80) and Megan Flanagan (247.50).
The three-meter diving was captured by Barstad, whose mark of 288.20 was a personal best and the second-best in Aztec history. It also reaffirmed her qualification for the Zone E Regional diving championships to be held in Oklahoma City in mid-March. Atkinson (248.90) and Flanagan (242.30) finished second and third while both recording season personal best scores.
SDSU also got first-place finishes from Allison Hall in the 200 fly (2:09.09), Kelsey Diener in the 200 back (2:05.81) and Elisabeth Krueger in the 100 fly (58.65). The 200 medley relay team of Elena Karpeeva, Engzell, Krueger and Alexis McCoy opened the meet with a first-place in that event in a time of 1:48.97.
On the day, a total of four times that rank among the top 10 in SDSU history were recorded. In the 200 backstroke, Diener's time was the fifth-fastest ever, improving her previous best by .17 second. Right behind her, Elena Karpeeva took second in the 100 back to better her sixth-best ever mark to 2:05.82.
Karpeeva also swam a 2:10.83 in the 200 individual medley, moving her from ninth to sixth on the Aztec list. In addition, Karpeeva was a member of the 200 medley relay team mentioned earlier whose time went down as the ninth-fastest ever for an SDSU relay squad in that event.
San Diego State will now take the next two weeks to prepare for the annual Mountain West Conference championships which will be held in Oklahoma City Feb. 22-25.