Jan. 11, 2011
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State swimmers captured first place in three of the four events at the sprint eliminator meet hosted by the University of San Diego Tuesday afternoon at the USD Sports Center Pool. In the process the Aztecs finished first as a team with a score of 304 followed by USD (168) and Colorado State (148).
The meet consisted of 50-yard races in each of the four strokes with all swimmers from each school participating in all four events. A preliminary round was held with a total of 56-57 swimmers followed by a second round featuring the top 16 times. From that group, the top eight times advanced to a final race to determine the champion in each event.
Over the course of the meet, SDSU had the top three finishers in two of the races and had two of the top three in the other two. Senior Emilee Jennings was the lone athlete who turned in a top three finish in each of the afternoon's four events.
In the 50 free, Jennings took top honors as she won the final with a time of 26.00 after recording the best time of the day with a 25.94 in the semifinal round. She was followed by teammates Kim Bierwith (26.12) and Brooke Vessey (26.26) with Stephanie Koch (26.89) placing fifth.
The 50 back saw Bierwith turn in the meet's top time at 26.90, a mark which topped the round of 16. However, SDSU's Leona Jennings touched the wall first in the finals, going 27.01 to edge out sister Emilee for the top spot. Bierwith captured third (27.24) while Aztecs Shaida Solimani (27.99) and Allison Stuhr (29.71) were sixth and eighth respectively.
The third event, the 50 breaststroke, was won by Aztec sophomore Katelyn Weddle, whose time of 30.27 in the final was the top clocking of the day. USD's Melissa Andruzzi (31.39) ended SDSU's run of top three finishes as she took second while Emilee Jennings (31.57) was third. Freshman Lauren Parrett also advanced to the finals for San Diego State where she placed sixth with a time of 31.82.
The Aztecs' hope of winning all four events came up short when USD's Francesca Finucane won the 50 free with a mark of 24.31. She was followed closely by Emilee Jennings (24.61) and Koch (24.70). The Aztecs had a total of five swimmers among the eight finalists including Solimani (5th in 25.04), Jessica Crider (6th in 25.09) and Bierwith (8th in 25.70).
The San Diego State swimmers and divers will next be in action on Saturday (Jan. 15) when the team travels to Bakersfield for a triple dual meet against UC San Diego, Fresno State and Cal State Bakersfield set to get underway at 1:00 p.m. at CSUB's Hillman Aquatic Center.