Biting the pain from sore muscles and sick bodies, the Aggies came away with two wins this weekend.
UC Davis topped both Pacific and Nevada on the road Friday afternoon to raise its record 3-1.
Despite changing the line-ups four times due to illness, the Aggies won the tournament by a landslide.
“We may have overestimated Pacific and Nevada,” coach Barbara Jahn said. “But I am very pleased with the quality of personal bests. We have been practicing really hard, and my team knew how to race through whatever they felt.”
Twelve swimmers swam season bests and several of those times were personal records as well.
“Our team had athletes from the second heat move up and score higher than athletes from the first heat,” Jahn said. “It was really nice to see that level of competition and to see each teammate really going for it.”
UC Davis senior Heidi Kucera and freshman Liliana Alvarez battled back and forth in the 200 breast stroke. The duo finished first and second in the race. Jahn believes the pair will be key to the Aggies’ success throughout the season.
“It’s nice to have two really competitive girls,” Jahn said. “You feel confident that you’ll have a 100 percent race. They both have totally different styles that work for them.”
Kucera and Alvaraz weren’t the only two Aggies to perform well at the dual meet.
Junior Kayleigh Foley topped a lifetime best over the weekend and senior Linda Herman set a new personal record in the 200 backstroke. Freshman Maya Sprinsock also set lifetime bests in just her second meet at the collegiate level.
“I’m really proud of the effort every single one of them put forth,” Jahn said. “It’s a good starting point. They have a really good competitive attitude, and they’re out there having fun.”
Jahn believes the wins from this meet will give the Aggies confidence for next weekend’s matchup against San Jose State.
“Next Saturday will be our hardest duel,” Jahn said. “We will definitely have to show up with our A game.”
CALEIGH GUOYNES can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
