Rafael Salinas
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Junior Mickey Mackle placed first in all three of his events Saturday against UC Santa Cruz, as the Cal Poly men’s swimming team was victorious by a score of 176-81, while the women also won 174-99.
Mackle placed first in the 200-yard medley relay, swimming first, followed by sophomore Caleb Davies, freshman Shannon Fong and sophomore Jack Jenner as the anchor, for a time of 1:36. Mackle also placed first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke at 22.36 seconds and 2:04.69, respectively.
“I’m putting in the preparation, and you’re seeing the results on the stat sheet,” Mackle said. “I’ve matured and strengthened a lot since freshman year, and that’s why now as a junior I am where I am.”
Mackle has consistently been Cal Poly’s best male swimmer, stepping up in place of Sonny Fiero’s absence during a redshirt year.
On the women’s end, freshmen Bonnie Diamond and Sage Speak led the way by winning a total of five events between the pair. Diamond placed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:04.82 and contributed to a first- place finish in the daunting women’s 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Diamond was accompanied in the first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle by freshmen Elise Goetzl and Marissa Robertson and sophomore Karoline Eckhart, finishing more than seven seconds ahead of second place.
“We’ve been swimming really well and supporting each other in practice, and that translates to these meets,” Diamond said. “We really did a good job today fulfilling what we expect of ourselves.”
Speak, the second additional standout on the women’s end, placed first in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke as well as the 400 Individual Medley. Speak outpaced the competition in the 200-yard breaststroke. Her time of 2:18.97 was nowhere near approached by the second place finisher from UC Santa Cruz, who finished with a time of 2:45.47.
Sophomore Caleb Davies, continuing his excellent season thus far in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 55.65. Like Speak, he easily outpaced the competition by winning by more than four seconds in that event.
Further south, the Cal Poly diving team headed south for the Bruin Invite Diving Invitational and entered three divers in the competition. Freshmen Lauren Pierce and Brady Shutt, and junior Olivia Salvatore-King, were the only student-athletes to compete on Saturday.
Shutt was the only Mustang to place of the trio during the Saturday diving meet, placing ninth. The meet featured schools such as Southern California, UCLA and California.
There will be another installment of the Blue-Green rivalry versus UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 31 at 11 a.m.