Oct. 20, 2012
STOCKTON, Calif. - For the second straight day, San Diego State swimmers finished first in every race as it captured the team title at the 2012 Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif. The Aztecs ended the two-day meet with 1,349 points to out-distance host Pacific (706), Brigham Young (481), UC Davis (422) and UC Santa Cruz (125).
SDSU opened day two of the Invitational by taking first in the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Maddy Dalcamo, Leona Jennings, Natilee Ruiz and Chelsea Bailey went 1:34.40, a time that ranks fourth on the Aztec all-time top 10 list.
In the 200 butterfly, SDSU's Loreen Whitfield came in first in 2:08.56 as she just edged teammate Mikaela Macklin (2:08.59) by .03 second. The next race saw Bailey go 52.03 in the 100 freestyle with Dalcamo just behind her in second with a time of 52.26.
Macklin put the disappointment of the second place in the 200 fly behind her to win the 200 individual medley in 2:04.34. She was followed in the race by Jennings (2:06.63) and Whitfield (2:09.14).
Junior Melanie Garibaldi, who won the 1,650 free on Friday, completed a sweep of the distance free events by winning the 500 freestyle in 4:55.30. Teammate Kelly Marquenie took second in 459.39 with SDSU's Jessica Crider (4:59.56) placing third.
San Diego State's other three individual race winners on Saturday included Ruiz in the 200 backstroke (2:01.97), Katelyn Weddle in the 200 breaststroke (2:17.94) and Gemma Johnson in the 100 butterfly (55.48).
The Aztec concluded the Invitational by capturing the 800 free relay with the eighth-best time in school history. The foursome of Ruiz, Garibaldi, Meghan Zimmer and Marquenie won the race by three second over teammates Crider, Macklin, Dalcamo and Dana Michaels (7:38.70).
Up next for San Diego State is a pair of triple-dual meets against New Mexico, Colorado State and New Mexico State on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2-3, in Albuquerque, N.M. The four teams will face each other in a pair of dual meets over the two days that weekend.