Oct. 18, 2013
STOCKTON, Calif. - San Diego State swimmers completed the opening day of the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif., by capturing seven of the eight events contested at UOP's Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex. The Aztecs took three of the top five places in all six individual races and two of the top three spots in both relays.
Only SDSU and Pacific had swimmers competing on the first day of the meet with UC Davis scheduled to join the Invitational for Saturday's events.
Aztec freshman Anika Apostalon captured a pair of individual races and was a member of two winning relay teams. She swam the anchor leg of the 200 yard medley relay to open the meet and along with teammates Chelsea Bailey, Jordy Hanna and Frida Berggren turned in a winning time of 1:46.09.
Apostalon later added victories in the 50 freestyle (23.52) and 100 backstroke (56.51). Her time in the 50 free ranks as the fifth-fastest ever for an SDSU swimmer.
Berggren, a freshman from Sweden, captured the 200 freestyle in 1:52.01, a mark that was just .01 second away from being added to the all-time Aztec top 10 list. Teammate Maddy Dalcamo finished third in 1:54.66.
Mikaela Macklin, the reigning Mountain West Swimmer of the Year, got her season off to a bright start by winning the 400 individual medley in a time of 4:22.41. Newcomer Caroline Mitchell place second in 4:30.34, a mark that goes into the SDSU record book as the 10th-fastest by an Aztec.
Mitchell later captured first place in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 17:08.39, a mark that ranks as the ninth-fastest in school history. She was followed by fellow Aztecs Dana Michaels (17:44.05) and Shannon Herman (18:04.57), who finished fourth and fifth respectively.
San Diego State's other victory came in the 400 free relay where the foursome of Apostalon, Bailey, Macklin and freshman Kate Santilena went 3:33.43.
The only race in which SDSU did not take first place was the 100 breaststroke where Hanna went 1:07.29 to place second by half a second. Macklin finished third in 1:07.69 with Emily Pleger taking fifth in 1:09.55.
Day two of the Pacific Invitational in scheduled to get underway on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 10:00 a.m.