Aztec Swim and Dive Readies for Two Weekend Events

SAN DIEGO – San Diego State swimmers will be back in action this weekend when they play host to Pepperdine in a dual meet on Friday, Jan. 13 at Aztec Aquaplex, starting at 11 a.m. PT.

In addition, SDSU divers will travel up the freeway to compete at the UCLA Bruin Diving Invitational, Jan. 13-15, in Los Angeles. 

Prior to the Aztecs-Waves clash, SDSU will hold a special Senior Day ceremony to celebrate the accomplishments of Emily Gebhardt, Jeannette King, Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez, Lizzie Menzmer, Paige Mitchell, Kristina Murphy, Cassie Phillips, Evonne Stehr and Riley Tapley.

The Aztecs will be looking to extend their dual-meet victory streak after posting their 47th and 48th consecutive wins with matching 127-118 conquests of Incarnate Word and Cal State East Bay at home on Jan. 5.

With the decisions, SDSU has not dropped a dual meet since Jan. 8, 2018, a span of over five years, improving to 12-0 on the 2022-23 campaign.

Friday's meet will mark the Aztecs' second encounter with Pepperdine after topping the Waves by an 83-59 count on Oct. 6 at their home pool in Malibu, California.

With a heavy dose of sprinting events in that early fall triumph, SDSU posted the five fastest times in the 50 freestyle and 50 butterfly and captured the top three places in the 50 backstroke and 50 breaststroke to go with victories in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.

As a result, the Aztecs raised their all-time record vs. Pepperdine to 19-0, including a 12-0 mark in Malibu.

For the season, SDSU has recorded 16 of the top-10 fastest times in program history, including Alex Roberts, who claimed event titles at the SMU Invitational in November in the 200 backstroke (1:54.91) and 100 backstroke (52.90), both of which rank second on the school's all-time charts. For her efforts, Roberts garnered Mountain West Swimmer of the Week accolades on Nov. 22.

In all, the Aztecs have collected seven conference weekly honors so far this season, including their most recent recipients in Mai McKenna (swimmer) and Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez (diver), who received such distinction on Jan. 10 for their performances over the holiday break.

McKenna captured event titles in the 100 backstroke (53.92) and 200 backstroke (1:58.92) that counted towards SDSU's team score in a 126-115 dual-meet victory over the University of San Diego at home on Dec. 19. She also posted the fastest time in the 200 individual medley (2:00.30), with all three of her individual performances representing Aztec Aquaplex pool records and personal collegiate bests.

Not to be outdone, McKenna also established a pool standard in the 50 backstroke after leading off SDSU's "C" 200 medley relay team with a split of 25.30 to mark another career-fast clocking.

Meanwhile, Lechuga Gonzalez logged a trio of top-three placements to pace the Aztecs at the CBU Lancer Diving Invitational, held Dec. 16-17 in Mission Viejo and Riverside, California. The SDSU senior emerged triumphant the 1-meter springboard competition with a winning score of 276.90 points to eclipse the NCAA Zone qualifying barrier (265). With her victory, she has taken home four event crowns this season.

Lechuga Gonzalez will lead the Aztec contingent at the Bruin Diving Invitational this weekend, which gets underway on Friday with the preliminaries and finals of the women's 3-meter springboard, along with the women's team diving finals.

Additionally, Saturday's docket features the preliminaries and finals of the women's platform events, before the invitational concludes on Sunday with another two rounds of the women's 1-meter springboard competition.

Preliminary action on all three days at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. PT, and live results may be accessed on DiveMeets.com.

Along with host UCLA, the Aztecs are scheduled to face divers from the likes of California Baptist, Cal Poly, Denver, Grand Canyon, Hawai'i, Pepperdine, Rutgers, Southern California, Stanford, TCU, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Utah and Wisconsin, as well as fellow Mountain West schools Fresno State and UNLV.

Following its two weekend events, San Diego State swimmers will make the short drive down Interstate 8 on Friday, Jan. 27 to battle the University of San Diego in a road dual, while Aztec divers will play host to their Torero counterparts at Aztec Aquaplex on the same day. Both competitions are slated for a 2 p.m. PT start.