The men's and women's swim and dive teams are up at East Los Angeles College for their midseason meet where things got off to a strong start with more than 40 season best and 11 personal best times earned by the Golden Eagles at the LaVerne Invitational. There are 16 teams representing NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA at this competition.
Leading the way was freshman
Rachel Maki who put up the fourth fastest time in the meet in the 500 free and her 2nd personal best time of the day. Her 5:03.21 time is a NCAA "B" qualifying time and #4 all time in CUI history in the event.
On the men's side, junior
Jayden Hernandez popped a PR in his 50 free (20.50p) good for a silver medal, the 3rd fastest time in CUI history and only .4/100th of a second off his first ever NCAA "B" cut.
In the women's 50 free,
Hailey Garcia finally defeated her biggest foe: the 24-second barrier! She swam to a 24.07 leading off the women's 200 free relay and about 90 minutes later, she blasted a 23.97 in her individual race. She is now the 3rd fastest 50 freestyler in school history and less than 1/10th of a second from a NCAA "B" cut.
The day started well Friday in the 500 freestyle as
Jon Sutherlin (4:36.39, 3rd overall, CUI PR),
Joey Molettieri (4:41.39p, PR),
Mitchell Cullen (4:48.97 - season best), and
Alice Stainer (5:07.90 - season best) all scored for CUI. In prelims,
Lanis Webb,
Garrin Hatfield,
Makayla Novak,
Kristin Faith Urquhart and
Zoey Carrillo each posted season best times.
In the 200 IM, sophomore
Aubrie Carver swam to a PR (2:09.81) now the 7th fastest time in CUI history and teammate
Carissa Ward dropped 4 seconds to go 2:10.15 for her PR and the 8th fastest time at CUI. For the men,
Aidan Keane went a season best 1:56.35 to grab 12th place and
Landon McIntire went a season best 1:58.40 for 20th.
Christopher Haygood went a season best 20.92p in the 50 free and he got a lot of help from
Owen Neitzel (21.49),
Nathan Snyder (21.71p), and
Jonathan Dose (21.83) all scoring points for CUI. In time trials at the conclusion of the session,
Mariko Edwards (100 breaststroke) and
Zoey Carrillo (50 free) each posted personal best times.
The men's 200 free relay of Jayden, Jonathan, Owen, and Chris ripped the 9th fastest time in CUI history to seal up a 3rd place finish. Each of the members of the "B" relay (Nate,
Jack Harris,
Jacob VanRensburg and Landon) each posted 21-second splits in their race.
The huge relay swim of the night came from lane 8 and the CUI Men's "B" 400 medley relay. Aidan (52.3), Jack (56.7),
Julian Hernandez (49.8) and Owen (46.7) rocketed to a 3:25.77 3rd place finish, the 2nd best time in the PCSC conference and the 9th fastest time in school history!
Day 2 prelims start at 9am as the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 backstroke will be contested in prelims.
Meet results can be found at Meet Mobile or
HERE, and the live stream is on the University of LaVerne athletics website
HERE.
