Nov. 18, 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. -
The San Diego State swim team recorded program top 10 times in all five events and had three individuals and a relay team record NCAA B cuts on the opening day of the Arena Invitational at the Belmont Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif.
The meet, hosted by UC San Diego, has 21 participating schools on the women's side including defending national champion California along with top 25-ranked teams Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State. After the first day's competiton, SDSU iss in third place behind Stanford and Cal.
The Aztecs' opened the finals session by taking sixth in the in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome of Chelsea Bailey, Stephanie Koch, Leona Jennings and Mikaela Macklin went 1:33.09, the third-fastest in program history.
In the 500 freestyle, junior Meghan Zimmer turned in SDSU's top individual finish of the day with a fourth-place showing. Her finals time of 4:46.72 was the second-fastest-ever by an Aztec swimmer and was an NCAA B Cut time, provisionally qualifying for the 2012 NCAA Championships.
Jessica Crider's 10th-place time of 4:51.63 in the 500 free enters the all-time school list at No. 5 while Dana Michael's mark of 4:55.09 is the sixth-best in program history. Melanie Garibaldi's finished 11th in 4:53.84, but the junior already owns the program's third-best time which she set last season.
Leona Jennings had an NCAA B Cut time in the 200 individual medley with a 1:58.87 in the prelims before finishing sixth in the finals of that event in 2:00.07. Teammate Mikaela Macklin went 2:01.89 to improve on her third-best time in school history. Macklin missed the NCAA B Cut mark by just .10 second.
San Diego State's top finish in the 50 freestyle was Stephanie Koch's 13th place which she captured with a mark of 23.29. Freshman Chelsea Bailey added points to the Aztecs' score by finishing 19th in 23.27, time that ranks as the third-best all-time for an SDSU swimmer.
In the final event of the opening day, SDSU's 400 medley relay team of Jennings, Macklin, Gemma Johnson and Koch captured sixth place in 3:43.10. That time qualified as an NCAA B Cut and also entered the Aztec recorded book in the no. 2 spot. In addition, Jennings' leadoff 100 backstroke leg of 54.43 was an NCAA B Cut.
The Aztec `B' team in the 400 free relay (Bailey, Emilee Pleger, Loreen Whitfield, Shannon Bray) also etched its name into the SDSU top 10 list with the fifth-best time in the event as it went 3:50.63.
San Diego State continues action at the Arena Invitational of Friday with prelims in seven events beginning at 10L30 a.m. Friday's events include the 1200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free relay.
For real-time updates and results from the 2011 Arena Invitational click here.
TEAM STANDINGS 1. Stanford.............348 2. California...........285.5 3. San Diego State......231 4. San Jose State.......198 5. Arizona State........184 6. UC Santa Barbara.....153.5 7. Oregon State.........125 8. Brigham Young........104T9. UCLA.................103T9. Post Grad-Stanford...10311. UC San Diego..........9612. Hawai'i...............8513. Fresno State..........6514. Loyola Marymount......59.515. San Diego.............5016. Post Grad-California..46.517. CSU Bakersfield.......46T18. Pepperdine...........40T18. Pacific..............4020. Post Grad-UCSB........2521. Post Grad-LMU.........16