Second meet of the year, more opportunity for fun.
After a convincing 160-132 victory over Fresno State on Jan. 8, the Aggies toned down the intensity at the Schaal Aquatics Center while competing in the second annual Aggie Open the following day. With league standings not impacted, many Aggie swimmers showcased their versatility by competing in events atypical to their standard races.
One case was senior long-distance swimmer Lexy Troup, who typically competes in events such as the 1000- and 1650-yard Freestyle. At the Open, Troup tried her hand at some short-distance events, including the 100 Backstroke and 200 medley relay, where she placed third and seventh, respectively.
“It’s a lot lighter [than the dual meet the day before, and] everyone’s happy and easygoing,” Troup said. “No one is too stressed out because they’re not swimming their main races, so it’s more enjoyable.”
One standout performance is a trio of victories collected by junior Kirsten Brand, who was a key component in the Aggie team that posted the fastest time in the 200-yard medley relay (1:50:17). Brand also secured individual wins in the 200-yard Backstroke (2:05:90) and the 50-yard Freestyle (24:47), along with a third place finish (59.93) in the 100-yard Butterfly.
Other notable showings include freshman Eva Chung, who had top four placings for every event she competed in, which included a victory in
the 100-yard Butterfly (58.26), second in the 50 Freestyle (24.53) and 100 Backstroke (1:00:47), and a fourth place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:53:61).
Not to be outdone, freshman Mia Facey notched together a pair of individual victories in the 100-yard Backstroke and Breaststroke, with times of 59.76 and 1:06:18. Unopposed Aggie wins include senior Cara Silvas in the 200 Butterfly (2:25:53), and sophomores Aislinn Dresel in the 200 individual medley (2:15:35) and Ali Sena in the 500 Free (5:26:81).
Some surprising faces made an appearance at the Open, as athletes from different UC Davis sports competed for the first time on Saturday. Ranging from soccer to water polo, these Aggies were quickly put to the test against the more experienced swimmers.
Colby Wadman, junior punter for the UC Davis football team, seemed undaunted by the task.
“Well, the mentality of swimming is a lot different than punting,” Wadman said. “I haven’t really ever done this [swimming competitively] at all, I just wanted to go out there and see what happened.”
It appeared as though Wadman and the rest of the non-swim team athletes were thrown into the deep end of the pool and when asked whether he received any pointers from the coaches, Wadman laughed.
“We [he and fellow football player Justin Williams] came in here blind, just trying to see what would happen and make the most out of it,” Wadman said.
The punter took home a respectable fifth place finish in the men’s 50-yard Freestyle with a time of 34.05.
The women’s swim and dive team’s next meet is set at home as they take on UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 23.
“They’re [UC Santa Barbara] our arch rivals in the conference, so we’re really going to get geared up to beat them,” Head Coach Barbara Jahn said. “There’s always some good head-to-head competition against them no matter where, home or away.”
Written by Eric Portillo – sports@theaggie.org
