SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State swimming and diving team celebrated its 11 seniors' final competitive appearance at the Aztec Aquaplex with a 159-123 dual meet victory over the San Diego Toreros on Friday afternoon.
The victory is the Aztecs 13th dual meet triumph of the year and extends its consecutive win streak in dual meets to 36. SDSU has not lost a dual meet since in more than four years or more than 1,480 days
The eleven seniors honored prior to the meet were Gina Cazares, Cathy Cooper, Ryan Dulaney, Gillian Garcia, Sammy Geyer, Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez, Lexi Letts, Lizzie Menzmer, Kristina Murphy, Mia Ryan and Klara Thormalm.
In the opening race of the day, the 200 Medley Relay, the Aztecs entries finished one-two. The team of Thormalm, Geyer, Menzmer & Ryan finished with the top time of 1:43.23. Riley Tapley, Brynlee Busskohl, Cassie Phillips and Meredith Smithbaker came home in a time of 1:44.62 and second place.
Paige Mitchell, the lone Aztec in the 1000 Free, was the winner of the race in 10:43.67.
In the 200 Free, San Diego State took the top two spots. Ryan was the winner in 1:53.17 while Dulaney touched in second with a 1:57.27.
The Aztecs took home the first three spots in the 100 Back and had five of the six fastest times in the race. Tapley was the race winner with a time of 56.34 and was followed by Evonne Stehr (57.85) and Mai McKenna (58.31) to wrap up the first three spots. Fiona Trotz-Chavez was fifth with a 1:01.18 and Lexi Anderson swam a 1:01.61.
Thormalm won the 100 Breaststroke in 1:02.96 with Busskohl in second at 1:05.82 and Jessie McMurray coming home in third in 1:05.94. Ashlyn Hemphill recorded the fifth fastest time with a 1:08.96, which was a season best for the sophomore.
San Diego State had four swimmers in the 200 Fly and they finished in the top four spots. Wilma Johansson, in 2:05.13, was the winner, and Phillips was second in a season-best time of 2:05.46. Emily Gebhardt was third in 2:06.56 and Menzmer had the fourth quickest time (2:09.34).
Geyer won the 50 Free with a 23.99 and Smithbaker was second with a 24.20. Lauren Torchiana was fifth coming home in 25.18.
In the 100 Free, the Aztecs had the five quickest times and six of the top seven. Thormalm won her second individual race touching in 51.12. She was followed by Ryan (51.83), then Smithbaker (52.13) and Geyer (52.72). Hemphill was the fourth quickest with a 54.44 and Torchiana came home in 55.16.
McKenna won the 200 Back in 2:06.68 and was followed by Stehr who swam a 2:09.26.
The 200 Breaststroke was won by Murphy who touched in 2:16.20. Busskohl was second with a 2:23.63 and McMurray finished in fourth at 2:34.87.
Dulaney, Mitchell and Gebhardt had the three fastest marks in the 500 Free. They clocked times of 5:08.94, 5:10.82 and 5:17.36, respectively.
In the 100 Fly, San Diego State swimmers had the four quickest times. Phillips swam a 55:13 and was followed by Tapley (56.52), Menzmer (57.22) and Anderson (59.19).
Murphy had the fastest time in the 200 IM (2:06.73), while Stehr's 2:09.39 was the second quickest and she was followed by McKenna who touched in 2:12.42.
The final race of the day, the 200 Free Relay had two Aztecs teams with the best times. Menzmer, Geyer, Phillips and Smithbaker recorded the top time with a 1:35.05 and edged out Thormalm, Ryan, Murphy and Tapley by three one-hundredths of a second (1:35.08). Trotz-Chavez, Gebhardt, Mitchell and Dulaney touched in 1:41.71 and Hemphill, McMurray, Busskohl and Torchiana swam a 1:42.06.
In the 1-meter diving competition, the Aztecs recorded nine of the top 10 scores. In just her second competition with San Diego State, Valentina Lopez Arevalo recorded a season-best 292.28 and won the event. Lechuga Gonzalez was second with a 287.18 and Emma Dugan, also in a season best, was third with a 286.80. Four other Aztecs notched season-bests. Garcia totaled 272.03, Letts scored 258.60 and Cazares and Summer Westmoreland recorded scores of 254.55 and 254.33, respectively. Jules Harrison totaled 237.98 and Olivia Zamudio finished with a 225.23.
In the 3-meter event, eight of the nine San Diego State divers posted season-bests. Lechuga Gonzalez totaled a score of 361.13, which was a season-best and the second highest total in Aquaplex history. The other Aztecs who set season marks were Duggan (301.13), Harrison (290.25), Letts (289.05), Lopez Arevalo (288.38), Cazares (269.48), Westmoreland (267.53), and Zamudio (244.80). Garcia finished with a score of 264.23.
The Aztec divers have one more tune-up prior to the 2022 Mountain West Championships, at the NAU Diving Invitational from Feb. 3-5 in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The next time the swimmers get into the competition pool will be Feb. 16-19 at the 2022 Mountain West Championships in College Station, Texas.
-SDSU-
Aztec Put USD Away On Senior Day
