The CUI Golden Eagle Men's and Women's swim teams concluded their 2023-2024 seasons at the PCSC Conference Championships on Saturday. After sterling performances on days 3 and 4, the women surged to 5th place (out of 14 teams), a mere 3 points behind UCSC and easily surpassing their best result in the NCAA era. The women scored the most points in their PCSC history (going back to 2008) with 857 points! The men battled to the wire against the deepest field the conference has seen in six seasons and finished 4th of 8 schools posting some historic performances along the way.
Multiple podium finishes were the norm for CUI in the final two days of competition.
Jayden Hernandez was the star on Friday winning his second PCSC title in three seasons in the 100 fly. He did so with a flourish, breaking the CUI school record AND getting his 1st ever NCAA cut in the event with a 48.73p.
Another NCAA "B" cut fell at the fast hands and feet of Chris Haygood who shattered his PR in the 100 free by powering to the 2nd fastest time in school history and the bronze medal in a time of 44.98.
The third school record broken was in the final event of the meet for the women as the quartet of
Alice Stainer,
Aubrie Carver,
Alex Leland and
Hailey Garcia dropped a 3:29.98 in the 4x100 free relay breaking that difficult 3:30 barrier (and the team record of 3:30.56 from 2011)! Hailey's name now appears on three of the five CUI team relay records. The men's 4x200 free relay shocked the field with its win on day 1 as Chris,
Jon Sutherlin,
Landon McIntire and
Joey Molettieri won the event for the 4th time in six seasons.
The medal count included
Ryan Burke (3rds, 100-200 butterfly),
Joey Molettieri (3rd, 200 free),
Alex Leland (3rd, 100 breast),
Trevor Dixon (3rds, 100-200 breast),
Ellie Hardey (3rd, 200 breaststroke), and the men's 4x100 free relay of Chris,
Landon McIntire, Joey, and Jayden who earned a silver to wrap up the meet.
A-finalists (top-8 finishes) added a lot of points to the Golden Eagles tally on days 3-4. Among the scorers were
Naomi Nakaya (7th, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly PR),
Georgia Caraway (100 butterfly 6th),
Julian Hernandez (8th, 100 butterfly, 100 back PR, 200 butterfly PR),
Carissa Ward (6th, 400 IM, PR),
Landon McIntire (4th, 200 free, PR),
Alice Stainer (7th, 200 free),
Jack Harris (7th, 100 breaststroke),
Ellie Hardey (4th, 100 breaststroke),
Aubrie Carver (8th, 100 back, 7th 200 back),
Rachel Maki (4th, 1650 free, PR),
Jon Sutherlin (5th, 1650 free),
Aidan Keane (7th, 200 back),
Jayden Hernandez (8th, 100 free), and
Hunter May (6th, 200 breaststroke).
It was a barrier breaking season in a lot of categories for the Golden Eagles.
Rachel Maki (500 free),
Jayden Hernandez (50 free, 100 fly) and Chris Haygood (100 free) earned NCAA "B" qualifying times, the first time that more than two swimmers earned cuts in a single season since 2020. The women earned 27 individual personal best times this year while the men grabbed 40. The teams combined recorded 251 season best times. The women placed 26 individual swims and 6 relays onto the CUI All Time Top-10 lists while the men had 23 individual and 6 relays added. Given the impressive history of this program, those numbers are astounding!
At this very fast PCSC meet, the women had 19 A-final (top-8) scorers, 15 B-final (places 9-16) and 7 C-final (places 17-24) while the men had 23 scorers in the A-final and 20 in the B-final.
"We challenged this group at the beginning of the season to be competitive. The men always want to compete for a PCSC title and this season they found the path crowded with good teams. We got our bells rung a few times but when it mattered (November mid-season meet and here at PCSCs), they rallied. There are five deep and talented programs now and for us to get back in the mix, we need to do a number of things better including coaching them to get faster in finals races after good prelims ones, getting more scoring out of the back-half of our roster and adding some diving. The women accepted the challenge this year of being more competitive in meets and not settling for "the experience." This was most definitely their best roster in the NCAA era and arguably the program's history. Finishing four points out of 4th place and really making no mistakes in four days demonstrates their willingness and desire to come back to the battle time after time and compete. I couldn't be prouder of a team. This season was the most fun I've had in my time here. This is the most engaged and professional staff I've had the honor to work with and after going through some really tough stretches, the most resilient team I've had in five seasons. I am not the easiest person to swim for, but the Lord continually reminded me of what this all means and to trust and believe in these kids. This was so much fun and I miss them already."
