Feb. 20, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. - On the first day of the Big West Swimming and Diving Championships, the UC Santa Barbara men's and women's swimming teams find themselves second place in the standings. The men opened up the Championships with 107 points to tie Pacific, but they trail to UC Davis' 125. On the other side of the pool, the women garnered 100 points, narrowly trailing UC Irvine with 106
Naomi Javaniford, Sara Nicponski, Erin Yamamoto and Anne Marie May opened the 2008 Big West Swimming & Diving Championships with a new UCSB and meet record in the 200 medley relay. The record time of 1:38.64 was nearly two seconds faster than the previous time of 1:40.46, set by the Pacific Tigers in 2002. It also beat the record set earlier this year by Jessica Cruzat, Nicponski, Yamamoto, and May (1:41.67) by over three seconds.
Not wanting to be outdone, the team of Matthew Bartlett, Jeffrey Sudbury, Daniel McClary and Bradley Matsumoto picked up the first UC Santa Barbara win in the 200 medley relay event since the 2004 championship, clocking in at time of 1:27.63. This team broke the UCSB record in this event recorded in 2005 (1:29.71).
Senior co-captain Brooks Felton came into the 1000 free with the fourth-best time in the Big West, but ended up leading the pack and ended up with the Big West crown. Felton won the event with a 9:09.84. Freshman Lindsay Gaudinier took fifth place in the women's version, touching the wall at 10:17.85.
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Bartlett, Scott Vogelgesang, Chris Good and Joe Wood ended the day helping the Gauchos reach a trifecta of league champions. Their 800 relay team swam the event in 6:34.72 to win the event, just missing the school record. The women's team finished second in the event, trailing UC Irvine by only .3 of a second (7:21.73).
The action in Long Beach continues tomorrow as the Gauchos stay on their quest to be named the Big West Champions. Qualifying events begin at 10:30 AM with the finals beginning at 6 PM.
