PACIFIC COLLEGIATE SWIM CONFERENCE
- Wednesday, February 12 – Saturday, February 15
- East Los Angeles College (Pacific Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Cal State East Bay women, Concordia men (results)
- Live Results (meet mobile)
- Day 3 Results
- Day 1 Recap|Day 2 Recap
- Championship Central
The 2020 PCSC Championships continued Friday night with finals of the 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 400 medley relay. The Pepperdine women have moved into the lead over defending champion East Bay, but they’re separated by just 14 points. The Santa Cruz men continue to lead, but Concordia closed the gap to move into 2nd ahead of Biola.
Fresno Pacific’s Olga Tovstogan, the 2019 Swimmer of the Meet, earned her 3rd-straight title in the 100 breast. Tovstogan, who won the 200 IM on day 2, was just a tenth short of the Meet Record. Her winning time of 1:01.30 was just a few tenths shy of her lifetime best, which she set as she placed 3rd at last season’s NCAA Division 2 Championships. Teammate Arianne Kooijinga also picked up a win with a lifetime best 55.31 in the 100 back.
The 100 breast was also a point of highlights for the men. Fresno Pacific’s Dmitriy Belolipetskiy, a D2 All-American, won the race in 55.31 as he held off Simpson’s Tom Higdon (55.55) at the finish. Tonight’s race was the first time under 56 for Belolipetskiy. Higdon sets the bar as the highest finish for a Simpson swimmer, as the team is currently in their inaugural season.
Alaska’s Oda Bygdnes, the 2019 runner-up, won the women’s 100 fly in 55.71, coming from behind to out-touch East Bay’s Allie Klinger (55.89). Bygdnes was also a scorer at the 2019 NCAA D2 meet, scoring in the 100 fly B final. Biola’s Katelyn Harper made a huge drop to win the 400 IM. Coming into the meet, she had never broken 4:30. Harper took the lead early on and never let up, winning in 4:25.10. Pepperdine’s Sammie Slater also made a big time drop, knocking nearly 2 seconds from her former best in the 200 free and winning the final in 1:51.93.
On the men’s side, Fresno Pacific’s Kirill Baron clipped his best time to dominate the 100 fly in 49.35. Kyle Benjamin, who won the 500 free for Concordia on Friday, took his 2nd win of the meet with a 3:57.74 in the 400 IM. Teammate Austin Barton repeated as champion in the 200 free with a 1:41.41 as he narrowly held off a late charge from Biola freshman Patrick Waggoner (1:41.44) and Santa Cruz freshman Sam Smith (1:41.69). Notably, Waggoner had the fastest time of the day with his lifetime best 1:40.79 in prelims.
Fresno Pacific nabbed a 3rd men’s individual title as Iskender Baslakov, the 2019 PCSC Swimmer of the Year, won the 100 back in 47.77. This was his 3rd-straight title in the event. Baslakov is the Meet Record holder with his 47.05 from 2018. He’s also the reigning runner-up from the 2019 NCAA Division 2 Championships and the top returner from that meet.
Fresno Pacific won both the men’s (3:23.74) and women’s (3:49.53) 400 medley relay. The FPU men were dominant, winning by nearly 3 seconds in 3:23.74. Shortly after his 100 back win, Baslakov led them off in 50.34. Denisz Der took on the breast leg in 56.35, followed by a 49.35 fly split from Baron. Belolipetskiy sealed the deal with a 47.53 anchor split. Barton had the fastest anchor split of the field by far for Concordia (3:29.98), posting a 44.65.
Tovstogan split a 1:01.11 breast leg to pull the women into the lead. East Bay (3:49.82) closed the gap with Victoria Zukeran‘s 55.22 fly split, coming from over 5 seconds behind to touch a second behind heading into the free leg. Klinger anchored in 49.53 for East Bay , nearly catching Fresno Pacific, but Kooijinga was able to hold her off with a 50.76.
TOP 5 TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3 – WOMEN
- Pepperdine University 944.5
- California State University, East Bay 930.5
- Azusa Pacific University 747
- Biola University 731
- Fresno Pacific University 534
- Concordia University 508
- Loyola Marymount University 431
- University of Alaska-Fairbanks 414
- University of California, Santa Cruz 386
- Soka University 157
- Westmont College 156
- Arizona Christian University 137
- The Masters University 118
- Simpson University 14
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3 – MEN
- University of California, Santa Cruz 1019.5
- Concordia University 964
- Biola University 947
- Fresno Pacific University 612.5
- Simpson University 330
- Soka University 296
- The Masters University 247
- Arizona Christian University 29
