Nov. 20, 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. - San Diego State concluded competition at the three-day Arena Invitational in Long Beach Saturday evening and left with a seventh-place finish of the 21 competing teams. On the meet's final day, the Aztecs got a school record in the 200 butterfly by a freshman swimmer, three NCAA B Cut times and three other marks that go into the record book among the SDSU all-time top 10.
On the diving side, senior Kristen Meier captured first-place in the one-meter board at the Wildcat Diving Invitational with a score of 291.95. The field for the meet, hosted by the University of Arizona in Tucson, consisted of 53 divers with five Pac-12 schools represented. Meier's win followed up her second-place showing in the three-meter board on Friday. Teammate Rafaela Suarez, the only other Aztec competing, finished 23rd with a score of 221.60.
In Long Beach, meanwhile, it was freshman Taylor Lakey (Southridge HS; Beaverton, Ore.) setting a San Diego State record in the 200 fly with a mark of 2:00.60, a result which qualifies as an NCAA B cut time. In addition, her 100 spilt of 55.60 in that race goes into the record book as the fourth-fastest in program history.
San Diego State's top showing in any event came in the 1,650 freestyle where the Aztecs had three swimmers finish among the top seven. Melanie Garibaldi went 16:45.30 to take second place. She was followed by Dana Michaels and Jessica Crider, who place sixth (16:53.52) and seventh (16:55.83) respectively. Michaels' time ranks fifth on the SDSU all-time list with Crider's mark just behind her in sixth.
The 200 backstroke race saw junior Leona Jennings take sixth place in 1:59.17, her second B cut time of the meet after she accomplished the feat in the 100 backstroke on Friday. Soph Mikaela Macklin was SDSU's top finisher in the 200 breast where her time of 2:16.89 was just .20 second off her personal best which ranks third on the SDSU record list for the event.
San Diego State also recorded an NCAA B cut time in the 400 free relay where the foursome of Macklin, Stephanie Koch, Meghan Zimmer and Chelsea Bailey went 3:23.05. That mark was good for a third-place finish and goes into the record book as the No. 3 time by an SDSU quartet. In addition, Macklin's leadoff 100 time of 50.82 is the second-fastest mark at that distance ever by an Aztec.
Up next for San Diego State is a return to dual meet competition when it hosts Mountain West foe New Mexico on Saturday, Dec. 3, at noon at the Aztec Aquaplex.
2011 ARENA INVITATIONALFINAL TEAM STANDINGS 1. California.........989 2. Arizona State......865.5 3. Stanford...........812 4. San Jose State.....707 5. San Diego State....664 6. UCLA...............587 7. UC Santa Barbara...508 8. Oregon State.......502 9. Brigham Young......46210. UC San Diego.......33711. Hawai'i............19112. Pacific............18713. PostGrad Stanford..18314. Fresno State.......17915. San Diego..........17316. CSU Bakersfield....16617. Loyola Marymount...147.518. PostGrad Cal.......139.519. Pepperdine.........8220. Post Grad-UCSB.....2521. Post Grad-LMU......19.5