Junior Heidi Kucera won three events to lead UC Davis to a split with San Jose State and Fresno State during a collegiate double-dual women’s swimming and diving meet at Schaal Aquatics Center Saturday afternoon. San Jose State won 10 of the 16 events to sweep both opponents while the Aggies defeated Fresno State.
The Spartans won 170-129 over UC Davis and 240-57 over Fresno State. The Aggies earned a 229.5-67.5 win over the Bulldogs and are now 7-8 overall in duals. With the sweep, San Jose State bumped its dual winning streak to 12 straight and is now 12-1 overall.
Kucera claimed wins in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley to lead UC Davis. She also teamed with seniors Emily Medved and Mary Struempf and sophomore Amanda Holman to win the 200-medley relay. Kucera’s winning times were 1:04.73 in the 100 breast, 2:19.69 in the 200 breast and 2:06.90 in the 200 IM.
UC Davis opened the meet with a win in the 200-medley relay in 1:47.23 to jump out to an early lead. The Aggies and Spartans then traded winners in the next four events as the lead shifted back-and-forth.
San Jose State grabbed the lead for good with a win in the 200-butterfly and won seven of the next 10 events, including both 1-meter and 3-meter boards, to earn their first victory over UC Davis in three seasons.
The Aggies ended the meet with another first-place showing as they earned a sweep of the relay events with a time of 3:22.53 in the 400 free relay. Holman teamed with seniors Emily Medved and Amber Bonds and sophomore Linda Hermann in the victory. UC Davis also finished third in the event at 3:39.97.
Hermann also won the 200 freestyle in 1:55.45 and was second in the 500 free (5:10.47) to cap a solid day. Along with swimming on both winning relay teams, Holman also had second-place showings in the 50 free (24.48) and 100 butterfly (58.77).
Senior Kendra Hughes was the highest Aggie scorer on both boards as she went 193.30 to finish fourth on the low board and 199.80 to place third on the high board.
The women’s and men’s swimming team reunite on Saturday for a dual at Big West Conference rival UC Santa Barbara at noon.
Aggie Digest is compiled by the California Aggie sports staff with briefs from the UC Davis athletics website, ucdavisaggies.com.
