IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine swimmers made their regular season debut on Saturday and dominated in the pool at the North State Invitational. Racing against student-athletes from Cal State East Bay, the Master's and the host school, Simpson University, the Eagles motored to victory in a combined 23 events with a number of freshmen making an immediate impact in the water.
The CUI men won 12 of 15 events and were led by
Jonah Pohlmann who posted three individual victories in the 1000 free, 200 fly and 500 free). The CUI women won 11 of 15 events and that included freshman
Ryan Burke who sped her way to wins in the 1000 free, the 200 fly and the 500 free – the same three events as Pohlmann!
"It was a great first meet out for both squads," said CUI head coach
Bert Bergen, who said Burke and Pohlmann matched each other for the title of Iron Swimmer of the Meet. "Four or five events in about a three-and-a-half-hour meet is a lot and though we weren't as fast we would have liked, they were top-to-bottom really racing. We are happy with the result and the work continues."
Burke's outing in the 200 fly actually ranked her No. 5 all-time in CUI history in that event and the 1000 places her at No. 8.
Faith Silzel won the 200 free-200 IM while
Hailey Garcia (50 free),
Sara Jones (100 free), and
Ellie Hardey (100 breast) won one event each.
The Eagles closed the meet with a strong finish in the 4x50 free relay as Garcia, Jones, Silzel and
Katelyn Thomas held off the EB "A" relay.
On the men's side,
Thatcher Grooms won the 200 back-200 IM, as both swims were in-season PRs.
Eagles nailing down wins included
Jack Harris (200 free),
Lanis Webb (100 back), and
Jayden Hernandez (100 fly).
Chris Haygood led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 50 free with teammates
Tim Townsend and
Alberto Cortes locking it down. Cortes even came back to lead a 1-2-3-4 u100 free sweep 15 minutes later dropping a superb 47.8 swim from lane six.
To close the meet, the Eagles went 1-and-2 in the 4x50 free relay with Haygood, Townsend, Hernandez and Cortes leading the way and distance aces
Jon Sutherlin,
Kyle Benjamin and
Kyle Stocek joining Pohlman to grab second.
Up next for the Green and Gold is the Malibu Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 9 which will feature
both swimming and diving. The divers begin at 10 a.m. that morning with the first race in the pool to start with the swimmers at 11 a.m.
"It will be a big test (for us) with a lot of solid teams in attendance," added Coach Bergen.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI swimming and diving schedule.
