Both the men and women swim teams have gotten off to a hot start to begin the season. (Alex Gonzalez/Daily Nexus)
This past Friday, the UCSB men’s and women’s swim teams both took victories in a nearly identical, dominating fashion against UC San Diego. The men won by a margin of 151-103 and the women coasted on a score of 156-101.
With this duel meet win, the Gauchos continue on their hot start to the season. The men improve to a 2-1 record while the women move to 3-1. The only schools to best the Gauchos so far in the season are UCLA and USC.
Santa Barbara set the tone for the meet very early and continued to lead throughout. In the first event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay, both the men and women took first place with each of their “A” teams. The men came in at a time of 1:32.64 and the women at a time of 1:45.72.
Following the relay, the Santa Barbara men continued to receive first place honors in ten straight events with outstanding performances by some of the usual faces. Senior Andrew Barmann put himself on top in his premier event, the 1000-yard freestyle, in a time of 9:34.35, with junior Armen Darbinyan following close behind at 9:36.93. Senior Wade Allen capitalized in the 50-yard freestyle sprint with a time of 20.99 seconds and took gold.
The women captured a few events in sweeping style. They took first through fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle with senior Heren Alanis leading the way in a time of 1:53.70. They repeated this performance in the 100-yard freestyle as well with junior Lauren Vosseler taking first in a 52.18 outing.
The Gauchos have another tough challenge ahead of them this Friday when Wyoming comes to Santa Barbara. This meet proves to be of great importance as it is the last action the Gauchos will have before heading to Los Angeles for the Arena Invitational. A stress for cohesive preparation and rehabilitation has been preached to the team as they prepare for this important meet the following weekend.
The meet versus Wyoming is set to start at 1 p.m. at Campus Pool.
