The UCSB men’s and women’s swimming teams proved that no Matador would kill their streak by defeating conference foe Cal State Northridge Friday at Campus Pool. The men took eight events to win 129-64, while the women took nine victories to win 120-74.
Led by junior Chris Good and sophomore Scott Vogelgesang, each with two individual victories, the Gaucho men (6-1 overall, 1-0 in the Big West) took charge by dominating the 200-meter medley relay by clocking in at 1:35.68. Continuing his winning ways from last week’s meet, Vogelgesang sprinted his way to first in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly in 21.88 and 51.72 respectively. Sophomore Matt Bartlett propelled the Gauchos to the top by winning in the 200 free in 1:44.15 with senior co-captain Mason Edwards taking second in 1:44.36. Junior Jeff Sudbury defeated fellow freshman Kevin Kuhn in the 100 free with his time of 46.66 to show that this meet was all about Gauchos beating Gauchos.
“We knew that it was not going to be a hard team to beat, but it was great to see our kids set up and lead the way,” Head Coach Gregg Wilson said. “This meet allowed a couple of our second, third and fourth stringers to step up and lead the way along with our veteran swimmers. I’m glad it turned out to be our guys competing with our guys and our team members finishing behind each other and supporting each other.”
Freshman Brittany Borowitz proved she is no rookie by filling in to compete in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke – two events she does not normally swim in – and taking first place in both. The Gaucho women (5-3, 2-0 Big West) showed their relay power by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:48.02 with help from Borowitz and sophomores Naomi Javanifard, Carri Cook and Courtney Bauer. Freshman Lindsay Gaudinier easily took first in the 200 free, followed by junior Erin Yamamoto and freshman Jamie Cisar. Sophomore Jessica Schwalb showed the Gaucho depth by winning in the 400 individual medley in 4:31.04, while freshman Kelsey Lewis took second. Sophomore Niki Schrakamp followed in Volgegesang’s footsteps by taking the 100 fly in 59.56 for the women.
“[Brittany Borowitz] is the type of swimmer that you tell her to do one event, even though she has never done [it], and she will just say ‘OK,'” Wilson said. “A lot of our young kids did so well and I was very proud to see the team work well as a whole. Even though [CSUN] is not a great team, they were still able to get us in a couple of events, and I’m glad the kids kept going and swimming fast.”
Although the Matadors (0-3, 0-1 Big West for the women; 0-2, 0-1 Big West for the men) suffered a loss on both sides, sophomore Shannon Colavito won the 1,000 free for women, while junior Matthew Sulkevich took first for the men in the same event. Sulkevich was close in obtaining an individual win, but was beaten by 16 seconds in the 500 free by Good, who also won the 400 individual medley. The Gauchos return once again to Campus Pool on Jan. 26 for their last home meet of the season against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (5-1 men, 5-2 women) at noon.
