Meghan Merlihan, who swims for Irvine NovAquatics, has committed California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo for the fall of 2015.
Swimming for Esperanza High School, Merlihan was a consolation finalist in both the 200 and 500 free events at CIF-Southern Section Division I Championships last May. She is a mid- to long-distance freestyler who does better at the longer end of the range. Merlihan’s top times are:
1650y free: 17:07.12 1500m free: 17:20.09
1000y free: 10:10.61 800m free: 9:08.22
500y free: 4:56.22 400m free: 4:25.46
200y free: 1:52.08 200m free: 2:06.64
Merlihan will be a nice addition to the Mustangs’ roster; her top times would have scored in the “A” (1650 free), “B” (500 free), and “C” (200 free) finals at the 2014 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championships. These are events in which Cal Poly had a very thin showing and since only 38 points separated 5th-6th-7th places, the Mustangs should get a boost in the standings from a strong presence like Merlihan next year.
