The California Baptist men and women both came out on top of the team battles at the Colorado Mesa Invite this weekend. With that win, the California Baptist men remain undefeated through the fall 2015 season. Full results can be found here.
California Baptist:
Men-
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Confidence was built up higher than before and California Baptist University remained undefeated in events where team scores are kept Saturday at the Colorado Mesa Invite finale.
Six more NCAA Division II provisional performances sweetened the deal, as CBU won the invite with 1,232 points. Host Colorado Mesa took second with 1,036 points. Josh Hanson and Bernardo Valentim provided the Lancers with two first-place finishes, with one each in individual and relay races.
“Every single person on the team hit seasonal bests or personal bests,” Coach Rick Rowland said. “Nobody left here feeling like they didn’t accomplish something.”
Hanson and Valentim teamed up with Drew Denton and Alexis Ohmar to grab a victory and B cut in the final race of the meet — the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet clocked in at three minutes, 2.37 seconds. Hanson also won the 200 butterfly in a consideration time of 1:50.93, and Valentim took first in the 100 free — just edging out Ohmar 45.72 to 45.94, respectively. Both were rewarded with provisional times.
“Bernardo just touched out Alexis, Alexis is hard to beat, but those two have been going at it in practice the past few months,” Rowland said. “Hanson put up a lot of strong, non-rested times here this week.”
One of the more thrilling and impressive races of the day, from first place to fourth, was the 1650 free. Elijah Barrows and Robert Griffith both swam the marathon event, with Barrows just edging his teammate for third place, but grabbed B-cuts of 15:54.58 and 15:54.91, respectively.
James Wilson (1:53.85) and Adrian Gutierez (1:59.33) gave CBU the second and third-place points in the 200 back. Justin Quiroga took second in the 200 breast (2:07.28), and Gutierez (1:54.36) and Chris Sands (1:54.46) went three-four in the 200 fly behind Hanson.
Once again, the Lancers swept third to fifth — Zach Parry (266.80), Zach Mullins (247.50) and Kendall Rummell(228.95) — on a diving board, this time the one-meter.
Women-
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Provisional times have started rolling in each time out for California Baptist University, but the Lancers got an ever-so-rare automatic-qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Championships from Alena Rumiantceva in a dominating team finish at the Colorado Mesa Invite on Saturday.
With 1,198 points, CBU remained undefeated in events where team scores are kept this season, posting a more than 500-point cushion between itself and second place. Rumiantceva provided the highlight of the entire invite Saturday in the 200-yard breaststroke when she grabbed her A-cut with a first-place time of two minutes, 14.39 seconds after just missing it in the 100 breast on Friday.
“Alena just missed her pool record of 2:14.02 that she set at the RMAC championships last year,” Coach Rick Rowland said. “Everybody is leaving here with a glow and feeling pretty good about themselves. These are signs of good things to come.”
Four more B cuts and five more victories were nabbed by the Lancers Saturday. Christie Halverson and Yosita Hapsari each had an individual and relay win in the 400-freestyle relay. They teamed with Robin Smallwoodand Hailey Golden in the day’s only relay, winning it in a provisional time of 3:30.46. Halverson won the 1650 free with a consideration time of 17:29.79, which Hapsari also did in the 100 free (51.02).
“Christie came through, she’s really done some spectacular swimming here this week,” Rowland said.
The 200 butterfly was the most dominant event for CBU on the day, with Courtney Chacon winning it with a provisional mark of 2:05.94, Kristina Tchernyschev (2:07.38) taking third and Sara Yoshii fourth (2:07.48). The 200 backstroke wasn’t too bad, either, with Andrea Laliena winning it in 2:05.90 and Kylie Mihld taking second (2:06.06).
“Laliena was a nice surprise for us, winning the 200 back,” Rowland said, “it wasn’t a B cut yet but she’s getting closer.”
Melody Coleman gave the Lancers two top-three finishers in the 200 breast, taking third in 2:24.33. Bre Schlenger ended her week with a second-place finish on the one-meter diving board, with 231.10 points.
Colorado Mesa:
GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. – The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams won four events on the final day of the CMU Invite Saturday (Nov. 21).
The Mavericks won both the men’s and women’s one-meter diving events.
Ryan Popp (292.90) and Sage D’Ambrosia (286.80) finished first and second. Ross Barringer was sixth (151.60).
Cassi Blakeman won the women’s with a score of 236.40, and Abby Smith was third (195.60). Amanda Grigsby was fifth (170.15).
Sam Bryant earned the first CMU win of the day with a time of 15:48.82 in the 1,650. Ryan Gifford was sixth (16:33.37), Jeremy Pacheco seventh (17:00.31) and Landon Ellis eighth (17:08.30).
Josh Bedford took the win in the 200 breast with a time of 2:06.93. Sam Bryant was third (2:08.62), Ethan McNally fifth (2:09.85) and Ryan Gifford sixth (2:09.89).
Eryn Leonard finished second in the women’s 200 fly (2:07.35), and Justin Hastings was second in the men’s (1:52.05).
Chris Radomski was fifth (1:58.42), and Morgan Bean was sixth (1:58.96) in the 200 fly.
Abby Porter placed third in the 1,650 (17:57.52), and Miranda Reetz was fourth in the 200 breaststroke (2:24.92).
Sami Lenzmeier was fourth in the 200 back (2:07.90), Hannah Mabile sixth (2:11.62) and Olivia Hudsonseventh (2:13.81).
Jeremy Pacheco was seventh in the 200 back (2:04.86).
Sky Hirsch finished third in the 100 free (46.76), and Garrett Koehler was sixth (47.46). Abi Young led the women placing seventh (54.09).
The men’s 400 free relay nearly pulled off the win but lost to California Baptist by .20 of a second with a time of 3:02.57.
The women’s 400 free relay team finished fourth with a score of 3:34.14.
The men finished second in the team standings behind California Baptist.
California Baptist also won the women’s title, followed by Colorado Mines, Western State and Colorado Mesa.
Colorado Mines:
Two more program records fell and both Colorado School of Mines teams recorded top-three finishes on the third and final day of the CMU Invitational.
The women captured second with 687 points in a thrilling finish that came down to the final race, while the men were third with a very competitive 847 team points. On the women’s side, only 30 points separated Mines, third-place Western, and fourth-place Mesa. For the weekend, Mines established six new program records.
WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS
Hana Knaebel established a new program record in the 1,650-free, hitting the wall seventh in 18:19.55 to take more than three seconds off the three-year old mark of 18:22.65 held by Rainey Perkins.
Carrie Kralovec added another record to her weekend résumé, this time re-setting her own 200-fly mark by a hundreth of a second at 2:07.75. Gillian Wagner was right behind her in sixth at 2:08.88.
Other top individual performances included Katrin Gallup finishing second in the 200-breaststroke, touching in 2:22.29, and Britt Holloway snagging a third-place 52.65 in the 100-free.
The final women’s event secured Mines second place in the meet, as the 400-free relay of Holloway, Melanie Buckles, Haley McComas, and Kralovec out-touched Western by a quarter-second in 3:32.29 to take second, and the B relay of Wagner, Knaebel, Gallup, and Chanel Charbonneau earned a key sixth-place finish in 3:38.73.
MEN’S HIGHLIGHTS
Justin Dearden won the 200-back in 1:53.38, one of three Orediggers in the A final along with Caleb Ring (4th, 1:59.60) and Dominic Smith (5th, 2:00.26)
Brennan Mays scored a second-place 16:52.38 in the 1,650-free to cap a good weekend in the distance events. Dominic Byrne was also fifth in the event at 16:26.54.
Loki Hondorf led three Diggers in the 100-free A final, placing fourth in 46.79; Alexander Moreland (7th, 47.62) and Ethan Pfeiffer (8th, 47.90) also qualified. Sam Knottearned a fourth-place 2:09.75 in the 200-breaststroke, and Marcus Tonsmann was eighth in the 200-fly (1:59.71).
The men’s 400-free relay of Hondorf, Pfeiffer, Moreland, and Brent Kehoe capped the meet with a third-place 3:08.50.
QUOTABLES
“We had a great weekend. We opted to swim through this meet without adjusting our training, and our swimmers performed way above our expectations. This weekend should be a great springboard into the three months of our season.” – head coach Nate Rothman on Mines’ performance at the three-day meet.
Adams State:
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (November 21st, 2015)—On the final day of the CMU Invite hosted by Colorado Mesa University, the Adams State University women’s and men’s swim teams managed to stay consistent with the women finishing in sixth position at 190 total points, and the men taking fifth with 144 points.
Kicking things off for the final day was Sydney Nelson who competed in the women’s 1650 freestyle. Nelson finished in fifteenth place overall with a time of 19:25.45.
Erica Norton and Libby Weeks then took to the water to represent the Grizzlies in the women’s 200-yard backstroke where Norton finished in ninth place in the B-finals with a time of 2:07.08, while Weeks ended up in sixteenth spot with her time of 2:19.93.
Weeks also competed in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, along with teammates Kayle Mashoreand Anne Seaholm. Mashore led the way for Adams State with an eighth place finish and a time of 2:30.55. Seaholm finished six spots back of Mashore with a time of 2:35.11 to take fourteenth in the B-final. Weeks posted a time of 2:36.75 to finish in sixteenth.
In the women’s 100-yard freestyle, Marissa Mantzey took eighth overall by posting a time of 54.13.
Taking first place for the women was California Baptist University with 1198 total points. They had a substantial lead over the second place Colorado School of Mines, who finished in second with 687 points. Western State Colorado University took third with 677 points.
Clay Denney and Alan Jackman were the first men in the pool for the Green and White, as they competed in the men’s 200-yard backstoke. Denney finished in sixth spot overall with a time of 2:02.46. Jackman finished just two spots behind Denney, as he took eighth with a time of 2:07. 86.
Jackman would also swim in the men’s 200-yard butterfly where he would finish in seventh overall with a time of 1:59.07. This would be the final event of the meet for Adams State.
On the men’s side, California Baptist took first with another big lead of 1232 points. Host school Colorado Mesa finished in second with 1036 points, while Colorado School of Mines took third at 847 points.
The women’s team will be in the pool again on December 5th, as they host the Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves in a dual that is set to begin at 11 am. The men will take to the water next on January 2nd, as they travel to Mesa, Arizona to compete in the Citrus Classic.
Fans can stay up to date on all the latest Grizzly news by following along at www.asugrizzlies.com or on twitter by following @ASUgrizzlies
Western State Colorado:
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Western State Colorado University women’s swimming and diving team placed third in the 2015 Maverick Invitational Saturday evening in Grand Junction. The team will host CSU-Pueblo December 4th in Paul Wright Natatorium. The team will celebrate its first senior night.
The Mountaineers scored 677 points to place third. Colorado School of Mines scored 687, while Cal-Baptist won the meet with 1198 points.
Frances Ivers kicked things off in the third day of competition with a fourth place finish in the 1650 free. Sam Martin placed eighth in the 200 backstroke, while Alexandra Marsolekplaced fifth in the 200 breast. Akemi King placed seventh in the 200 fly. In diving, Ashley Nyugen placed fourth in the one meter dive.
Randi Yarnell placed high again, going second in 100 free in 51.60. Her time is her third NCAA “B” standard mark of the season.
The final event of the evening, the 400 free relay, the team of Yarnell, Morgan Aragon, Marsolek and Ariel Fitch placed third. Their time will convert with altitude to a “B” standard mark.
Colorado State Pueblo:
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (November 21, 2015) –After three full days of competition at the CMU Invite, the Colorado State University-Pueblo swimming and diving team earned a fifth place finish with 389 team points. With this score, the Pack bested conference foe Adams State University.
The ThunderWolves set another five school records on Saturday. As a team, CSU-Pueblo swimmers collected 11 new school records during the three day competition.
April McDonough (So., Frisco, Texas) broke her own CSU-Pueblo record in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 53.75. McDonough shaved nearly a full second off of her personal best as she won the B heat.
Another school record fell when Emily Foster (Sr., Santa Barbara, Calif.) broke her own record in the 200 breaststoke (2:28.70). Foster eclipsed her previous best by almost a full second to pick up the win in the B heat.
After breaking her own Pack record in the 100 butterfly, Magdalena Contreras Gomez etched her name in the record book again in the 200 butterfly (2:12.41). Contreras Gomez knocked another half second off of her previous record in the event to snag eighth place for the Pack. Foster and McDonough also set two school records each this weekend.
Arianna Rohde (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) torpedoed her way to a school record in the 200 yard backstroke (2:10.06). Rohde’s time shattered the old Pack benchmark by over five seconds and secured Rohde a fifth place finish.
In the mile swim, Samantha Sannes (So., Torrance, Calif.) showcased her endurance with a second place finish. Sannes’ time of 17:49.30 earned the Pack 17 points and ranks as the second fastest time in school history.
The final record of the weekend came in the 400 freestyle relay. Kristina Chang (Fr., Missouri City, Texas) joined Foster, McDonough, and Sannes to claim a school record time 3:45.07, besting the old record by a second.
With 11 new times entered into the record books this weekend, the Pack will try to continue to build momentum the rest of the season. They will visit conference opponent Western State College Dec. 5
Swimming news courtesy of Colorado Mesa, Colorado Mines, Adams State, Western State Colorado, Colorado State Pueblo, and California Baptist Swimming & Diving.
