Nov. 19, 2010
Day One Complete Results | Arena Invitational Central
LONG BEACH, Calif. - San Diego State swimmers set four school records on the opening day of the Arena Invitational being held at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Center in Long Beach, Calif. In addition to the records, the Aztecs also turned in nine times that rank among the SDSU all-time top 10.
In the meet's opening event, the 200 freestyle relay, the foursome of Stephanie Koch, Kim Bierwith, Emilee Jennings and Shaida Solimani turned in a mark of 1:31.87 to set a new Aztec standard. The quartet finished third of 44 teams in the race and their time was also an NCAA B qualifying mark.
In addition, SDSU's two other entries in the 200 free relay had times that rank among the SDSU top 10. Allison Stuhr, Jessica Crider, Maureen Cardwell and Shelly Perkins went 1:35.01 (5th-best) while Jordan Devine, Lauren Parrett, Shannon Bray and Taylor Yamagata turned in a 1:36.78 (10th-fastest).
In the 500 freestyle, freshman Kelly Marquenie set a school record with a time of 4:46.68 as she finished fifth of 97 swimmers. Fellow Australian Melanie Garibaldi went 4:49.77 to establish a personal best as well as the fourth-best time in school history. Both Marquenie's and Garibaldi's times also met the NCAA "B" qualifying standard.
In the 200 individual medley, Leona Jennings finished eighth of 126 entrants with a time of 2:01.17. It was another NCAA B qualifying mark for Jennings, who already has one in the 100 backstroke this season. Freshman Mikaela Macklin's time of 2:03.73 gave her a 12th-place finish and goes into the SDSU record book as the third-fastest time in the event by an Aztec swimmer.
The prelims of the 50 freestyle saw sophomore Kim Bierwith set a school record with a time of 23.01 as she edged teammate Stephanie Koch who went 23.03, a time which ranks second on the SDSU all-time list. Koch, whose school record was broken by Bierwith, went on to take sixth (of 171 swimmers) in the finals with a 23.04, this time finishing narrowly ahead of Bierwith, who was seventh in 23.09.
Two other Aztec times in the 50 free also go into the record book as top 10 entries. Emilee Jennings mark of 23.59 in the prelims ranks third while Shaida Solimani's time of 23.73 in the prelims is fifth.
The day's final event, the 400 medley relay, saw the team of Leona Jennings, Katelyn Weddle, Brooke Vessey and Stephanie Koch go 3:39.28 to break their own previous best time and establish a new SDSU and Mountain West Conference record. The foursome was fourth of 44 teams entered in the race and their time met the BCAA B qualifying standard..
The Aztec second entry in the 400 medley relay (Solimani, Lauren Parrett, Macklin and Maureen Cardwell) went 3:51.11, a time that is the fifth-best in school history. The third SDSU foursome of Stuhr, Natalie Meltzer, Berklie Oscarson and Shelley Perkins finished in 3:54.93, a mark that ranks ninth in the Aztec record book.
Action at the Arena Invitational continues on Friday (Nov. 19) with men's prelims in six events starting at 9:30 a.m. and women's prelims in the same events at 11:30 a.m. Finals in those races will get underway at 6:00 p.m. To view live results and well as complete results from Thursday click here.