LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The CUI Eagles wrapped up competition at the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships at East Los Angeles College on Saturday night.  It was a sterling night for the Eagles as the men won two events and grabbed a silver and a bronze in two others.  The men made a furious rush to close a 101-point gap on UC Santa Cruz as the teams went at it all evening.  In the end, the Slugs edged the Eagles for the Championship by just 4.5 points (1,413.4-1,409).  The CUI women concluded their regular season with an amazing final night as they nearly caught Fresno Pacific to equal their team-high finish at the PCSC Championships.  The fifth place Sunbirds ended up with 717 points to the Eagles 702 in the 14-team race.
 
The CUI men and women improved on their morning prelim times in the finals at nearly every opportunity.  Michael Marr led the onslaught with his first ever 1,650 free (1-mile) swim posting a 17:28 in the preliminary heat.  His time ended up placing him eighth overall in the event for a very valuable 22 points.  In the finals session, Taylor Steffen took the lead on the first 50 and was never headed.  As the top-seeded swimmer made a move at the 1000 mark, Steffen matched it and stopped the clock at 15:51 for his first PCSC title in that event and his first race under the 16 minute barrier.  
 
Austin Barton, seeded sixth into prelims qualified second for finals in the 100 free.  He gave it everything he had, coming up a bit short while dropping a blistering 45.30 to finish second.  Alberto Cortes moved from eighth to seventh with a 46.63 and Tim Townsend put up a faster finals swim in the consolation heat to nab 11th place.  
 
Maddie Dodge continued her farewell tour with the last finals swim of her career.  She was eighth in the 100 free and in four years, Maddie never finished lower than 8th in any event at PCSCs!  Katelyn Thomas finished in 11th place in the consolation heat with a hard fought 53.08 and Marley Hickson grabbed the final point in the C final.  
 
In the men's 200 back, No. 3 seed Braeden Glor led from the start and held on to tie for the men's title. It was a great showing for the freshman from Canada and in an excellent display of depth, Caden Carver (fifth), Kobe Gall (sixth) and Aidan Bouchard (eighth) all improved on their prelim times as the foursome recorded a huge 102-point effort.  
 
Faith Silzel equaled her prelims swim in her 200 back taking sixth in the A final while Brissy Campbell-Dowdy improved on her prelims time with a solid 20th place finish in the C final.
 
The 200 breast was a good event for the Eagles as well.  Shannon Daviscourt dropped two seconds off her her prelims swim to take 19th as Alicia Wintermeyer came in right behind at 21st.  In the B final, Emily Kivisto went out fast and it paid off as she dropped under the 2:30 barrier for the first time ever with a 2:29.07, good for 12th place.  The men were led by Skyler Hojnacki, the No. 8 seed who made a fantastic move at the 150 mark, passing three swimmers to take fifth place overall in a PR of 2:08.48.  In the consol B final, Armando Cadena Padilla (2:11.20) and Sam Hoag (2;13.91) went 1-2 for 37 big points and Nick Walker added 13 with a great 14th place finish.  
 
Kyle Benjamin moved up from fourth position to grab third in the men's 200 butterfly with a gutsy final 50 and Joey Fitzimmons finished 8th in the same event.  Maverick Donohue (11th) and Andrew Poore (15th) poured points in for The Eagles in the B final. For the women, Sayeh Faridnia (2:13.97, 17th) and Johnna Encarnacion (2:17.90. 19th) improve on their prelim times significantly.  In the B final, Mikayla Jean dug deep in the 50 to get a 13th place finish in 2:11.89.
 
The free relays of Dodge, Faridnia, Jamie Seddon and Thomas posted a season best 3:35.9 as all four women put up solid splits getting the Eagles a seventh place finish. The men were in a dogfight from the start as Austin Barton (45.3), Tim Townsend (46.0), Kyle Benjamin (47.2) and Albe Cortes (45.7) battled to the end, getting third behind FPU and BU.  The 3:04.35 time was the fastest CUI bettered the 3:07.3 from December and was the fastest time for a CUI relay in the last three seasons.
 
Katelyn Thomas (50 free, 100 back), Maddie Dodge (200 free), Kyle Benjamin (400 IM, 500 free), Austin Barton (50, 100 free) and Taylor Steffen (1650 free) each earned NCAA B cut standards.  The swimmers will learn in a week if they have qualified for NCAA Division II Championships to be held in Geneva, OH, March 12-15.