Jan. 3, 2017
The San Diego State swimming and diving team finished in second place at the four-team UC San Diego Invitational II Tuesday afternoon at the Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla, Calif. The Aztecs ended the day with 637.50 points to place second behind Rice (673.5) and ahead of both San Jose State (565) and UC San Diego (526).
The meet was originally scheduled as a double dual for SDSU against Rice and San Jose State, but it was decided to change the competition to an invitational format with the top 16 finishers in each event scoring points for their team.
Rice dominated in the pool, winning 12 of the 14 individual swimming events while UCSD and San Diego State won the other two.
SDSU's victory came in the 100 butterfly where junior Summer Harrison won with a time of 56.34.
The Aztecs got second-place finishes in four individual swimming events including Frida Berggren in both the 200 freestyle (1:54.33) and 400 individual medley (4:24.38), Rachael Kelch in the 200 butterfly (2:07.36) and Alma Thormalm in the 100 freestyle (52.36.
In addition, the 200 medley relay quartet of Alexa Clayfield, Morganne McKennan, Harrison and Thormalm captured second place with a mark of 1:45.80.
Freshman McKenna Meyer took third place in a pair of races including the 1000 freestyle (10:21.19) and 500 freestyle (5:04.56).
On the diving side, Junior Alexandra Caplan captured the 1-meter springboard for the second straight day, winning with a score of 313.05 as she improved on her previous day's score by some 30 points. The Aztecs also took fourth through sixth in the event with Nicole Dutton in fourth (259.60), Marie Yacopino in fifth (259.05) and Payton Gabris in sixth (246.87).
Makena Chamoures was SDSU's top finisher on the 3-meter board as her score of 296.90 (second place) was a Zone E qualifying mark and ranks as the eight-best ever for an Aztec diver in the event. Caplan placed third with a score of 286.50 while freshman Delaney Gallagher was fifth (265.90) in her Aztec season debut. Gabris (8th - 239.95) and Dutton (10th - 226.65) also finished among the top 10 in the field of 15 competitors.
Later this week the San Diego State swimming and diving team will host scrimmage meets against Boise State (Thursday, Jan. 5, 7:00 a.m.) and Nevada (Saturday, Jan. 7, 7:00 a.m.) at the Aztec Aquaplex . The Aztecs will return to competitive action in two weeks as the swimmers host a double dual meet vs. Fresno State and New Mexico on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 10:00 a.m. while the divers participate in the UCLA Diving Invitational Jan. 13-14 in Los Angeles.