In what was being referred to as a “semi-competitive meet,” the NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs and the NCAA Division II San Diego Toreros began their meet on Friday with a Pentathlon-plus meet on the SDSU campus.
The meet was swum in long course meters as teams begin preparations for the upcoming Olympic year where swimmers will be chasing not only yards bests, but Olympic Trials cuts.
Times from the day’s first five events (the 100 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, and 200 IM) were combined and swimmers were ranked based on those results. That ranking was turned into a final score, and the unusual format yielded a 33-24 margin for San Diego State: a score that belabored the far superior depth of the Aztecs.
This was an important meet for both teams. San Diego State is regrouping from the transfer of All-American sprinter Anika Apostalon, who is now up the coast at USC,
Whitney Weisz will take over as the team’s top sprinter, and kicked off her season with a win in the 100 free (59.05) and a tie for 1st in the 50 free (27.20) – an event that was not considered in the Pentathlon, but was raced later for some early-season testing. That 50 free time was just four-tenths short of her lifetime best, even at such an early point of the season.
She was complemented by a 1:03.47 win in the 100 meter fly from sophomore Summer Harrison, who is the team’s only returning individual NCAA qualifier from last season.
For San Diego, encouraging news came in the other half of the tie in the women’s 50 free thanks to a matching 27.20 from Stephanie Jones.
The team was also buoyed by the efforts of the pair that will form the backbone of the program this season: sisters Jackie Taylor and Dani Taylor, who took 2nd and 5th in the 100 free in 59.86 and 1:00.49, respectively.
In total, the Torero’s top three finishers in the overall pentathlon standings were all freshman: MK Clancy placed 9th, Mackenna Briggs was 12th, and the younger Taylor sister Dani in 13th.
Complete Pentathlon standings were not available at the time of posting. Complete event results available here.
Go Toreros!
University of San Diego is a Division One team. Stephanie Jones went 29.2. That’s a mistake in results. Fun meet.
Mike Keeler
University of San Diego Swimming