The Golden Eagles swim teams traveled to UC Santa Cruz for the first time since 2014 to compete in two back-to-back invitationals this weekend.  The competition was top flight as the women did battle with top PCSC foes, CSEB, FPU and the host Banana Slugs and the men took on FPU, Simpson, nationally ranked Southwestern Oregon and UCSC.  

After a very early departure Friday, CUI was in the water racing at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.  The 200 medley relays got off to a great start as the women posted a season best time good for third and the men taking the lead after the 1st 50 were never challenged, putting down their 2nd fastest swim of the season. Sophomore Jack Harris (breaststroke) and junior Christopher Haygood (free) had the fastest splits on their legs in the meet.

The Golden Eagles went on a heck of a streak from there, grabbing 15 top-3 finishes for the afternoon.  Senior Georgia Caraway (100 back) and Harris (100 breast) grabbed the lone individual wins on Friday with Harris holding down the #1 spot in the PCSC.  Caraway sits at #4 in the women's PCSC rankings.

Joey Molettieri (1000 free, season best), Alice Stainer (200 free, SB), Jayden Hernandez (50 free, SB), Hunter May (400 IM, 500 free, SB), Hailey Garcia (100 fly, SB), Alexandra Leland (100 free, SB, 100 breast) all earned hard fought runner up finishes.  

The Golden Eagles demonstrated a lot of depth in key events.  The women's 100 butterfly saw Caraway 4th) and sophomore Ryan Burke (5th) follow junior Hailey Garcia to fast swims while freshman Trevor Dixon (3rd) and junior Jon Sutherlin (6th) chased junior Hunter May to the wall in the 500 free. CUI ended the day with a pair of third place finishes in the 400 free relay.  The men finished the Shootout in 2nd place (of six) while the women were 3rd of eight on the day.

Saturday was warm and clear on the Monterey Peninsula and the conditions were ripe for some fast swimming.  The Eagles did not disappoint, breaking through for seven wins on the day. Haygood swept the 50-100 freestyles posting the fastest 50 free in the conference and moving to #2 in the 100. Harris completed his 50-100 breaststroke double blasting to the win in the 50 and the #1 time in the PCSC.. Freshman Alex Leland took the women's 50 breast and defending conference champion Burke took her signature event, the 200 butterfly and grabbed the PCSC #1 ranking with her swim.

The breakthrough swim of the meet came from freshman Aubriella Carver swimming her first ever 200 backstroke. She followed her race plan perfectly, dropping more than 7 seconds from her previous best to drop a 2:08.51 to take the win. She vaulted to #2 in the conference and is now the 8th fastest performer in CUI history in that event!  

The final win came in event #2 as the men's 400 medley relay, leaning on fastest leg splits from Harris (breast) and sophomore Jayden Hernandez (fly), pulled away for the win in a season best time, holding on the the #1 ranking in the PCSC. A whole nest of Golden Eagles contributed to the effort on Saturday including the women's 400 medley relay (Caraway, Leland, Burke, Garcia) which dropped 11 seconds from the season best to take 2nd in a nail biter down to the wire.  

Jayden (2nd), Hunter May (4th), and Khang Cao (6th) all put up season bests in the 200 butterfly, Alex (2nd), Bella (7th) and Jade Hughes (8th) did the same in the 200 breast and the 200 IM saw Georgia (3rd, SB), Aubrie (5th, PR), Ellie Hardey (11th) and Aranza Martha (12th) bring home a lot of points for CUI.  Alice Stainer (3rd, 1650 free), Jade Hughes (6th, 1650), Jon Sutherlin (4th, 1650), Aubrie (2nd, 50 breast), Hailey (2nd, 50 free), Isaiah Phillips (3rd, 50 free, SB), Landon McIntire (5th, 100 free, SB), Lanis Webb (3rd, 200 back, SB), Trevor (4th, 200 breast), Ryan Burke (3rd, 500 free, SB), Zoey Carillo (8th, 500 free, SB), and Makayla Novak (9th, 200 fly) had notable efforts on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles now shift their focus to their main mid-season competition at ELAC, Nov. 18-20 which is the LaVerne Invitational.