Through the first two days of competition at the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships, the CUI Golden Eagles have more than surpassed team expectations. The men are currently in 4th place, right behind Fresno Pacific in the 9 team race and the women have moved into 5th in their 14 team meet.

To date, the Golden Eagles have one relay title, two other runners-up finishes, two NCAA "B" qualifying times, have posted 29 of 40 possible season best times and another 10 personal best times.  Throw in six top-8 (A-final) finishes and we are seeing the makings of an outstanding meet.

On day 1, the 3rd ranked men's 4x200 free relay team of Christopher Haygood, Jon Sutherlin, Landon McIntire, and Joey Molettieri upset both #1 FPU and #2 Masters on the way to grabbing their fourth win in this event in six seasons.  Their swim is also the 3rd fastest in CUI history and Joey's closing 1:39 split was the difference in this one. The women's 4x200 posted their fastest time in five seasons and earned the 8th fastest time in CUI history as the foursome of Alice Stainer, Jade Hughes, Ryan Burke, and Rachel Maki were electric in their race.

The men's 4x50 medley rallied on the back two legs as Thatcher Grooms, Jack Harris, Jayden Hernandez and Chris Haygood blasted a 1:31.76 for the silver medal and 4th fastest swim in CUI history.  The women's 4x50 medley did what they've been working on for four four years: Aubrie Carver, Alex Leland, Georgia Caraway and Hailey Garcia destroyed the team record in the event posting a 1:44.41 and erasing the 1:45.20 set back in 2011.  Alex's 28.8 breaststroke split was the fastest in the entire field and Georgia's 24.8 fly split was #3. 

In the only individual race of the day, Mitchell Cullen dropped a PR in the 1000 free to grab 8th place and the #5 time in CUI history. 

On Thursday, CUI heated the ELAC pool up nice and early.  Rachel Maki went a PR in the 500 free earning a faster NCAA qualifying time and finished 4th, Alice Stainer went her season best to grab 10th and Payton Doak went a PR in finals to move up to 21th place.  The men saw Joey Molettieri set a PR in prelims (4:38.27, 7th all-time) and get 8th, Jon Sutherlin was 11th and Mitch was right behind in 12th.  Sam Diamond went a PR in prelims(4:45.07) on only 6 weeks of training after water polo season.

The 200 IMs were stunningly fast this year.  Ryan Burke (11th), Carissa Ward (12th) each swam to season bests for the women and Aubrie Carver battled her way to a 21st place finish. Hunter May led the men grabbing 6th in a quick 1:54.01, and Aidan Keane (10th) went a PR in finals while Trevor Dixon (15th) went a PR in prelims. CUI had six men under 1:59 but only these three reached finals. Thatcher Grooms (1:56.45), Landon McIntire (1:57.21) and Jacob VanRensburg (1:58.77) and great swims in prelims.  

The fastest race in the world, the 50 free ended the individual session.  Alex Leland (24.24) and Hailey Garcia (24.35) went 1-2 in the B-final (9th and 10th overall) as 9 of 11 CUI women who swam the event posted a season best today.  The men were led by Jayden Hernandez (20.37p, 2nd) who earned his first NCAA "B" cut and Chris Haygood (21.1, 7th). The consol. final was Golden Eagle heavy as Owen Neitzel (21.42, 11th, PR), Nate Synder 21.52p, 15th) and Jonathan Dose (21.69, 16th) flexed their sprint muscles.

The 4x50 free relays were over in a flash, as usual.  The Golden Eagles blasted some great swims in this one.  The women (Alex, Aranza Martha, Aubrie-23.9s, Hailey 23.6s) ripped a 1:36.38, good for 4th and the 4th fastest in CUI history.  The men nearly toppled heavily favored FPU again as Chris (21.1), Jonathan (20.6), Owen (20.7) and Jayden (19.6!!) popped a 1:22.20 for silver and the 3rd fastest time for CUI.  Jayden's split was the fastest in the entire field.

Day three is Moving Day for CUI: 49 of 52 swimmers will be in action in prelims.  We'll be looking for a lot of finals qualifiers, some NCAA cuts and school records as prelims get underway at 9:30am and finals will be at 5:00pm.  

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