Nov. 18, 2016
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. - The San Diego State swim team moved past Hawai'i and into second place of 10 teams after the second day of the A3 Performance Invitational being hosted by UC San Diego at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Calif.
The Aztecs two-day score of 779.5 286 points is second only to UCLA, which ended the day with 909.5 points. UC Santa Barbara also moved up one spot into third (671 points) with Hawai'i dropping into the fourth spot (596 points).
San Diego State had one first-place finish in the individual races with freshman McKenna Meyer capturing the 400 individual medley in 4:13.28, the fourth-fastest time in SDSU program history. It was the second win in two days for McKenna, who won the 500 freestyle on Thursday.
The Aztecs had two other swimmers finish among the top four in the 400 IM. That duo included Frida Berggren in second (4:13.84) and Corinn Casper in fourth (4:21.18). The latter's time ranks as the ninth-best in program history. In addition, Caroline Mitchell captured fourth in the B final in 4:27.51 to add to SDSU's point total.
In the 100 butterfly, Summer Harrison's time of 53.88 gave her a third-place finish with teammate Samantha Guttmacher taking sixth with a time of 55.53. Three other Aztecs competed in the B final in the event including Kate Santilena (55.51-3rd), Alma Thormalm (55.60-4th) and Courtney Vincent (56.40-7th).
Freshman Payton Wilson gave the Aztecs a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle with a mark of 1:50.84 while Marina Preiss and Kassidy Henson tied for seventh in the B final with identical times of 1:53.77.
The 100 breaststroke race saw SDSU's Morganne McKennan take third in a time of 1:02.30, a mark that enters the SDSU record book as the fifth-fastest time ever. Cecilia Zaccarelli added points with a sixth-place finish in the B final in 1:05.06.
In the final individual race of the day, the 100 backstroke, Santilena and Alexa Clayfield finished fifth and sixth with times of 55.70 and 55.83 respectively. Vincent added an eighth-place result in the B final with a mark of 59.03.
The opening race of the finals session, San Diego State captured second place in the 200 medley relay in 1:40.37, just behind winner UCLA by .05 second. The Aztec quartet of Clayfield, McKennan, Harrison and Thormalm recorded a time that ranks as the eight-best all-time for an SDSU relay squad.
In the final event of the day, the Aztecs added another second-place finish, this time in the 800 free relay. The foursome of Meyer, Berggren, Henson and Wilson went 7:22.15, a mark that goes into the SDSU record book as the eighth-fastest.
Action continues at the 2016 A3 Performance Invitational on Saturday with prelims in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly starting at 9:00 a.m. (PT) with the 1650 free being contested at 11:30 a.m. The finals in those events along with the 400 free relay will get underway at 5:00 p.m. (PT).
Live results for all of Saturday's events will be valuable by clicking here.
TEAM STANDINGSUCLA…………………909.5San Diego State………779.5UC Santa Barbara...…671Hawai'i…………….…596San Jose State…………460.5UC San Diego…………355.5Fresno State……………324.5Cal Poly……………….320.5Cal State Bakersfield…248Loyola Marymount….115