Nov. 18, 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. - San Diego State swimmers enjoyed another successful day at the Arena Invitational in Long Beach on Friday, achieving three more of NCAA B cut times in individual events and adding 12 new times to the SDSU all-time top 10 lists. Meanwhile at the prestigious Wildcat Diving Invitational in Tucson, senior Kristen Meier finished second of 51 competitors.
After two days at the Arena Invitational, the Aztec sit in fifth place out of 21 teams represented, just four points behind San Jose State. Stanford continues to hold the team lead followed closely by defending national champ California.(See below for a complete of team scores.)
SDSU's top individual placing of the day came in the 100 backstroke, where Leona Jennings went 54.48 to place fifth make the NCAA B cut. In that same event, freshman Chelsea Bailey turned in a mark of 56.54, a time that ranks as the 10th-fastest in program history.
The Aztecs' second NCAA B time on Friday was recorded by Melanie Garibaldi, who swam a 4:18.56 in the prelims of the 400 individual medley. She placed sixth in the championship final in 4:19.99. Sophomore Mikaela Macklin's time of 4:21.83 in the 400 IM moved her from eighth to second on the school top 10 list for that race as she bested her previous top time by almost seven seconds.
In the 200 freestyle, Meghan Zimmer captured seventh place with a time of 1:48.26, SDSU's third B cut time of the day. Freshman Dana Michaels mark of 1:50.68 place her fifth in the consolation final (13th overall) as she etched her named into the SDSU record listings with the fifth-best time in the event.
In the 100 butterfly, three freshmen and a sophomore had times good enough to register among the all-time top 10 in program history. First-year Aztec Gemma Johnson's 55.31 in the prelims improved her standing as the third-fastest, besting her previous top mark of 55.56 set earlier this season. Others notching SDSU top 10 times included freshmen Loreen Whitfield (55.54-4th) and Taylor Lakey (56.24-8th) along with soph Berklie Oscarson (56.07-6th).
The prelims of the 100 breaststroke saw another pair of Aztecs record top 10 times with Mikaela Macklin going 1:04.17 (5th) and teammate Natalie Meltzer recording a 1:04.60 (6th).
In the relays, the SDSU foursome of Jessica Crider, Michaels, Zimmer and Garibaldi completed the 800 free relay in 7:26.93, good enough for a fourth-place finish with the fourth-best time ever for an Aztec quartet in the event. The 200 medley relay saw the team of Jennings, Meltzer, Whitfield and Stephanie Koch record a time of 1:43.01 that ranks number two in the San Diego State list.
Meanwhile in Tucson at the Wildcat Diving Invitational, Kristen Meier's score of 268.50 in the preliminary round of six dives put her in seventh place and qualified her for the 12-athlete finals. In the latter session she rallied to post a score of 319.85 to finish in second place, just 1.95 behind Hailey Casper of Arizona State and 10 points ahead of the next highest point total. The Wildcat diving Invitational continues on Saturday with competition in the one-meter board with platform diving scheduled for Sunday morning.
For the Aztec swimmers, the Arena Invitational's final day will get underway at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning with the prelims for the 200 back. Other events to be contested include the 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 freestyle and the 400 free relay. For real-time updates and results from the 2011 Arena Invitational click here.
TEAM STANDINGS 1. Stanford...........695 2. California.........677.5 3. Arizona State......541.5 4. San Jose State.....461 5. San Diego State....457 6. UC Santa Barbara...379 7. UCLA...............300 8. Oregon State.......295 9. Brigham Young......28210. UC San Diego.......21511. PostGrad-Stanford..18312. Hawai'i............15713. Pacific............14214. PostGrad-Cal.......130.515. Fresno State.......13016. San Diego..........11917. Loyola Marymount...116.518. CSU Bakersfield....10819. Pepperdine..........5820. Post Grad-UCSB......2521. Post Grad-LMU.......16