Feb. 18, 2004

Long Beach, Calif. - Both the Gaucho men's and women's swim teams started out the first day of the Big West Swimming Conference Championships in Long Beach, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, very strong in their pursuit to bring home the Championship.

After the first day of events, the UC Santa Barbara women sit in fifth place with 34 points, while the men are tied for second with last year's defending champs UOP with a running score of 74 points.

On the men's side, the Gauchos came in with a first place position in the 200 Medley Relay. The Gaucho men beat the Big West Conference Championship record last year with a time of 1:30.87 and this year they decided to beat their own record coming in at 1:30.60. This marks a new Big West meet record and a new school record for the Gaucho men. The Gauchos also clenched second place in the 800 freestyle relay right behind their best competitors the UOP Tigers.

All results can be seen at www.bigwest.org.

Both teams will resume day two of the Big West Conference Championships Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Calif. for another all day affair. The Championships run through Saturday, Feb. 21.

Team Scores

Men 1. UC Irvine 129
2. UC Santa Barbara 74
2. Pacific 74
4. Cal State Northridge 73
5. Cal Poly 60