San Diego State swimmers set three new school records and recorded times in that were second-best in Aztec history in two other events during the first day of the Toshiba Classic in Long Beach, Calif. SDSU recorded top 10 finishes in four of the day's five events that saw athletes from some 23 schools participating.
The meet, formerly known as the Nike Cup, is being hosted by UC San Diego and features a number o the two teams in the west including defending national champion Cal, UCLA and Stanford from the Pac-10; MWC foes BYU, Utah and New Mexico plus Hawai'i, Loyola Marymount and University of San Diego among others. SDSU stood in third place at the end of the first day of competition.
Freshman Meghan Zimmer was SDSU's first record-setter of the day as she posted a time of 4:51.83 in the 500 freestyle. Her time was almost four seconds better than the mark set by teammate Petra Radovic just two weeks ago during a five-team meet hosted by the Aztecs. Another freshman, Melanie Garibaldi, turned in the second-fastest time in Aztec history when she went 4:53.79 while Radovic finished with a time of 4:56.08. Zimmer (10th), Garibaldi (14th) and Radovic (20th) all finished among the top 20 of 123 swimmers in the event.
In the 200 individual medley, freshman Leona Jennings established a new SDSU standard with a mark of 2:01.04 in the prelims to break the record that current Aztec that Elena Karpeeva set last season (2:01.49). Jennings finished sixth (of 148 athletes) in the finals while Karpeeva, who swam a 2:05.54, was 13th.
A third freshman, Stephanie Koch, put her name in the San Diego State record book when she swam a 23.61 in the 50 freestyle as she eclipsed the previous school record by .01 second. Five other Aztecs turned in times that will go into the SDSU top 10 in the event including Kim Bierwith (23.83-3rd), Alexis McCoy (23.84-4th), Leona Jennings (23.87-5th) and Meghan Zimmer (23.98-8th). Koch finished 13th of 210 swimmers in the 50 free race while Bierwith was the team's number-two finisher at 20th.
In the 200 free relay, the foursome of Koch, Leona Jennings, Emilee Jennings and Bierwith went 1:34.63 to capture seventh place (of 48 relay teams) with the second-best mark in SDSU history. The team of McCoy, Allison Stuhr, Shelley Perkins and Tarin Corwin's time of 1:36.43 ranks as the third-best time on the SDSU list.
The 400 free relay quartet of Leona Jennings, Katelyn Weddle, Bierwith and Koch finished third (of 46) with a mark of 3:44.42 that represents the second-best time by the Aztecs in that event. SDSU's two other entries in the race also turned in times that rank among the school's top 10. The team of Stuhr, Jessica Morrill, Shannon Bray and Jessica Crider's time of 3:54.06 ranks fifth while the mark of 3:55.06 set by Karpeeva, Emilee Jennings, Heather Cramer and McCoy stands eighth on the Aztec list.
Action continues on day two of the three-day Toshiba Classic on Friday, Nov. 20, at 9:00 a.m. at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach. Friday's events include individual races in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke plus the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays.
TEAM SCORES 1. Stanford.............492 2. Cal..................379 3. San Diego State......194 4. Brigham Young........171 5. UCLA.................144 6. San Jose State.......142 7. Hawai'i..............129 8. UC San Diego.........122 9. Loyola Marymount.....10210. Utah..................9111. Fresno State..........69 Nevada................6913. Oregon State..........6014. CSU Bakersfield.......5915. CSU Northridge........4816. Pepperdine............4617. UC Davis..............4418. San Diego.............3419. Alaska-Fairbanks......2620. New Mexico............24 Cal Baptist...........2422. White Water Aquatics..2223. Vanguard...............6