Aztec Swimmers Win Trailblazer Invite, Divers Shine in Arizona

 

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State swim and dive program wrapped a highly successful weekend in two meets across two states on Saturday, highlighted by the Aztec swimmers’ team title at the Trailblazer Invitational in St. George, Utah.

SDSU completed the four-day swim meet at Utah Tech’s Human Performance Center Pool with an aggregate of 882.50 points, easily outdistancing second-place UC San Diego (761.50 pts), followed by UC Davis (535 pts) and California Baptist (222 pts), while San Diego (176 pts), Utah Tech (174.50 pts) and Pacific (67.50 pts) rounded out the eight-team field.

Not to be outdone, Alina Skrocki and Isabella Gomez led a contingent of six Aztec divers with a 1-2 finish in the platform event at the Lumberjack Invitational in Flagstaff, Arizona.

With its team crown in Utah, San Diego State has competed in 20 regular-season invitational meets since the beginning of the 2017-18 campaign and has finished outside of the top three just once during that span, logging seven first-place performances, 10 second-place efforts and a pair of third-place results.

On Saturday, the Aztecs captured three additional swimming event titles, including a dominating display in the 100 freestyle, where the Scarlet and Black boasted the top three competitors. Alyssa Schiller completed the race with a personal-best time of 49.13, which ranks fifth on the school’s all-time, while Alli Mann touched the wall in second at 49.49, edging Kaydence Bispo, who clocked in with a career-fast clocking of 49.49, which ranks ninth in program history.

Not to be outdone, Mann posted a collegiate-best time of 49.28 in the morning preliminaries, which is good for seventh on the school’s all-time list.

Later in the meet, Mann, Bispo and Schiller combined with Abby Storm on SDSU’s victorious 400 freestyle relay team, which vaulted into fourth place in program history with a winning time of 3:16.87. Additionally, the Aztecs’ “B” entry of Reka Nyiradi, Melanie Quinto, Moa Bergdahl and Camille Seiley contributed to San Diego State’s point-total with a fifth-place finish of 3:22.53.

In the 200 backstroke, Storm emerged triumphant with career-fast swim of 1:53.27, improving on her No. 2 standing in program history. The Aztecs advanced three other swimmers to the finals of the events, as Liv Peebles took third with a collegiate-best clocking of 1:58.64, while Grace Mering placed sixth with a season-fast time of 2:00.02, followed by Quinto, who finished eighth at 2:02.08.

Elsewhere, Nyiradi logged a second-place swim of 1:58.74 in the 200 butterfly, while Amber Janky was slotted sixth with a season-fast clocking of 2:02.00, followed closely by Sierra Tallman’s seventh-place finish of 2:02.71, which also marked a season best.

In the 200 breaststroke, Roni Black placed fifth with a season-fast performance of 2:13.10, which ranks ninth on the school’s all-time charts, while Bergdahl took sixth with a season-best time of 2:13.38, followed in succession by Elisa Branca (2:15.27).

Meanwhile down in Flagstaff, Alina Skrocki, Isabella Gomez and Keira Kuderka surpassed NCAA zone qualifying standards in the finals of platform diving competition at Wall Aquatic Center on the campus of Northern Arizona. Skrocki captured the gold medal with a career-best score of 279.15, while Isabella Gomez was a close second with a total of 275.80, followed by Kuderka, who finished seventh with an effort of 225.35 in her initial collegiate platform event.

Earlier in the preliminaries, Skrocki posted a score of 291.05, which ranks third in program history, while Gomez’s finals tally is good for fifth.

SDSU advanced one other competitor to the platform finals on Saturday, where Meja Palmer placed ninth (218.10).

Aztec divers will return to action next month for the Riverside Collegiate Invitational, Dec. 18-20, in Riverside California. SDSU will reconvene with a full squad on Friday, Jan. 2 when it plays host to Vanderbilt and San Diego in a double dual meet at Aztec Aquaplex.