MALIBU, Calif. – The Concordia men's and women's swim and dive teams traveled to Pepperdine for the annual Rodionoff Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The men took care of business against Cal Lutheran winning 15 of 17 events between the two schools while the women battled multiple Division 1 foes with impressive results. Competing against the hosts from Pepperdine as well as the University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount University, and PCSC opponents Azusa Pacific and Westmont, the CUI women had a tremendous showing and ultimately won the D2 competition!
The freshmen made their presence known led by
Rachel Maki who lit up the meet with a win in the 1000 yard freestyle. That's the first for CUI's women at this meet in at least seven seasons!
Her 10:41.40 final time is No. 1 in the PCSC Conference by 20 seconds and now ranks her in the Top 20 nationally in NCAA Division II. On day two, Maki came up big again posting a 5:11.42 in her 500 free grabbing a secpnd place finish, again beating all D1 opponents. Her 1:58.13 in the 200 free was good for sixth and also fourth overall in the PCSC.
Maki had a lot of support in the Golden Eagles run to the victory. Freshman
Payton Doak (11:07.20) and sophomore
Alice Stainer (11:07.93) helped complete a 1-2-3 sweep of the D2 1000 free event. Doak also posted a D2 win in the 200 butterfly (2:14.43) and a third place finish in the 500 free (5:22.17). She dropped a 1:00.93 in the 100 butterfly to flex her sprint muscles as well.
Stainer, who was gamely battling illness for a few weeks, had a nice meet. The NCAA qualifier followed up her 1000 swim with 3rd, 5th, and 5th place showings in the 100, 200, and 500 freestyles respectively, with all times vaulting her in to the Top 10 in the PCSC rankings.
Fellow sophomore Aubriella Carver had an outstanding meet and won the D2 200 backstroke with a PR of 2:06.54 (No.2 PCSC, 4th all-time in CUI history). Carver also won the 100 back in 58.67 (No. 2 PCSC), and the 200 IM in 2:13.17 (No. 5 PCSC).
Alex Leland's 1:09.59 (No. 3 in PCSC) and 2:32.00 (2nd place) in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes were big for CUI.
The seniors continue to lead by example and there was none finer than
Georgia Caraway. She won the D2 100 butterfly in a 58.51 (second in PCSC), was third in the 200 backstroke (2:10.61) and dipped under 1:00 in the 100 back, going 59.83, good for second place.
Hailey Garcia is finding her sprint speed as evidenced by her 24.89-53.84 in the 50 and 100 freestyles. The 100 won the D2 race while the 50 earned her a silver.
Jade Hughes dropped an impressive 2:32.55 (third in D2) in the 200 breaststroke soon after a solid 400 IM earning her an Iron Woman award!
Freshmen
Naomi Nakaya (200 fly 2:14.51, D2 2nd),
Carissa Ward (200 back 2:09.94, D2 2nd, 10th all-time at CUI), and
Megan Groholski (200 free, 2:01.33, 100 free 55.62) each gave CUI a lot to be excited about this season.
The CUI men completed a workmanlike effort this weekend. Getting healthy, swimming a LOT of races on short rest and learning how to put a lot of different moving parts together, the guys posted some good early season times.
Sophomore
Trevor Dixon shined in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, putting down winning times of 58.69 (good for a PR and second overall in the PCSC) and 2:11.04 (fourth in PCSC).
Junior
Lanis Webb powered to victories in the 100 and 200 backstrokes stopping the clock at 54.18-1:57.35 (second in the PCSC). Senior
Jon Sutherlin was solid in winning the 500 and1000 freestyles and stole a second in the 200 free, an event where the Golden Eagle men finished 1-2-3-4! Joey Moletteri won the event, going 1:45.59 for a season-best mark.
Junior
Jayden Hernandez led a 1-2-4 100 fly finish with freshmen
Julian Hernandez and
Owen Neitzel powering it home for CUI. His 50.76 winning time ranks No. 2 in the PCSC. He also ripped a 21.39 50 free (No. 1 PCSC), a 47.08 100 free (No. 3 PCSC) and was part of four victorious CUI relays this weekend. He anchored the 400 free relay in a quick, 46.62.
Freshman
Jacob VanRensburg grabbed an impressive victory from a fast field and swam extremely well all weekend as did
Aidan Keane who was runner up to Webb in both backstrokes and swam a very impressive 400 IM on day 2.
The Golden Eagles travel to Santa Clarita next to take on PCSC opponent The Master's University on Saturday, Oct. 21. Following that competition, CUI returns home to host University of Redlands at Portola High School on Saturday, Oct. 28.
For the full CUI women's swim and dive schedule CLICK HERE
For the full CUI men's swim and dive schedule CLICK HERE
