Nov. 20, 2014
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. - San Diego State swimmers captured first place in two of the five events on opening day of the A3 Performance Invitational as the Aztecs grabbed the team lead with 370 points. SDSU is looking to defend its title at the three-day meet formerly known as the Arena Invitational.
UC Santa Barbara sits in second place after day one of the Invitational with 261 points followed by UCLA at 224. A total of 13 schools participated on Thursday at East Los Angeles College in Monterrey Park, Calif.
The evening finals session began with SDSU taking second in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome of Anika Apostalon, Chelsea Bailey, Whitney Weisz and Taylor Johnson turned in a time of 1:30.01 to finish just .11 second behind winner USC. The team's time in the race goes into the Aztec record book as the second-fastest in school history.
In the 500 freestyle, freshman Cori Casper advanced to the championship final where she took seventh place with a time of 4:58.47. Also scoring pints for SDSU in the event were Dana Michaels (second in the consolation final in 4:56.75) and freshman Alex Wolf (seventh in the consolation final in 5:01.86).
The Aztecs' first win on the night came in the 200 individual medley where junior Natilee Ruiz took first place with a mark of 2:00.51. Shannon Herman (2:04.69) and Savannah Miller (2:04.84) finished sixth and seventh respectively in the championship final as well.
San Diego State's best event of the day came in the 50 freestyle where the four swimmers who had begun the evening with the 200 freestyle relay competed in the championship final. Apostalon claimed the event title with a time of 22.41, just ahead of Bailey, who swam a 22.72. Johnson captured fourth place in 23.40 with Weisz finishing seventh in 23.58.
Two other Aztecs also scored points in the 50 free as Maddy Dalcamo placed second in the consolation final (23.33) and Samantha Guttmacher took fifth in the C final with a time of 23.88.
In the final event of opening day, the quartet of Apostalon, Laura Day, Summer Harrison and Bailey captured third place in the 400 medley relay in a time of 3:42.15. That mark was the eight-fastest in school history. USC won the race in a time of 3:36.19.
Action continues at the A3 Performance Invitational on Friday (Nov. 21) with prelims in the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke getting underway at 9:00 a.m. The finals session begins at 5:00 p.m. and will also include both the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay.