Heading into Friday’s swim meet against Denver, the UC Davis men were a perfect 2-0 on the season.
The Aggies only improved on that number as they stayed perfect on the season with a 160-135 win over the Pioneers.
UC Davis came out strong winning the first meet of the day, the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Jimmy Fong, Scott Weltz, Daniel Donnelly and Russ Underwood posted the top time of 1:33.40.
Junior Adam Borchard had a record day, posting a season-best time of 9:27.79 in the 1000-yard freestyle. He also won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:37.92.
Sophomore Alex Daneke also won two events as UC Davis finished in the top two in five events.
The UC Davis women didn’t have as easy of a time against Denver as the Aggies fell 191-109.
Entering the meet, the Aggies were expecting to have their hands full with the Pioneers, and they were right.
“They were a tremendous team,” said coach Barbara Jahn. “They kept on getting more first, second and third place [finishes].”
Senior Ashley Chandler led the Aggies with two wins and posted season bests in both the 50 free (23.97) and the 100 free (52.10).
Freshman Bridget Bugbee posted a season best 5:05.38 on her way to winning the 500 freestyle. Fellow freshman Morgan Lee’s season-best time of 2:28.38 in the 200 breast was also good enough for second place.
Even though Saturday was a mixed bag for UC Davis as a team, 17 of the 40 races resulted in season best times for the Aggies.
“Despite losing, we definitely gained a lot from this meet,” Jahn said. “A lot of the races were close and Denver needed to swim honestly in all of their races to beat us.”
Denver swept both the men’s and women’s sides in the diving competitions, with Elizabeth Yovich and Cody Stambaugh sweeping the completion for the Pioneers.
For the Aggies, junior Paul Navo placed second on the one-meter dive and third on the three-meter dive. Junior Hilary Brunner finished second in the three-meter dive with a score of 202.58.
The men host Fresno Pacific next week while the women have a week off before traveling to Long Beach, Calif. to participate in the highly competitive Toshiba Classic.
“Some of the top programs in the nation will be at the Toshiba Classic,” Jahn said. “We’re going to have to work hard to improve our times across the board.”
JASON ALPERT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
