Cal Poly swimming and diving wrapped up a regular season for the record books, as the men’s team took down the University of the Pacific on Friday, Jan. 17, to complete their first unbeaten dual meet season in the program’s Division-I history.
The men’s and women’s teams competed on Friday against Pacific, while the women’s team went to Davis for their final season meet on Saturday.
Despite numerous individual victories, the women’s team went winless over the two days.
In addition to finishing the season undefeated, the men’s team added two program records on Friday in the 200 Medley Relay and a stunning win by junior Evan Yoo in the 100 Breaststroke.
Men finish undefeated season over Pacific
Friday was an all-around showcase for the men’s team, culminating in a 147-115 win, while the women put up a strong effort in a 169-91 loss to the Tigers.
Swimmers on both teams notched personal bests in time across multiple events throughout the day.
The men’s team started the meet with one of the season’s most dramatic moments, sealing a 200 Medley Relay program record time of 1:27.26 behind Yoo and juniors Drew Huston, Finn Schlamp and Jonathan Butler.
This was the second time this season that the group had broken their record in the event.
Yoo was again the most dominant swimmer in the pool, winning all his events for a third straight meet.
His 52.79 time in the 100 Breaststroke broke a 10-year program record and put him tied for 61st in NCAA DI swimming and a B-Cut qualifier for NCAA championships.
In individual events, Huston earned a win in the 100 Backstroke with a 48.02 time to finish off another strong regular season.
Junior Lucas Meneghetti also added his name to the list of winners, taking the 500 Freestyle over five seconds in front of the rest of the field.
On the women’s side, sophomore Olivia Sundgren continued to top the score sheets, winning the 500 and 1000 Freestyle, the latter just behind her fourth-fastest time in program history.
Freshman Kristin Der was the other women’s individual race winner, finishing with a 57.04 in the 100 Backstroke.
Der, junior Melia Costa, junior Mikaela Gomez and senior Summer Cheng came up just one second behind the program record in the 200 Medley Relay with a 1:43.74 time, taking second in the event.
Women fall to Davis in final season meet
The Mustang women’s team traveled up to Davis for their last regular season meet on Saturday, losing 185-112.
Sundgren paced the pool yet again, winning both of her events for a second straight day.
After a close second-place finish in the 100 Breaststroke on Friday, Costa won in the event with a 1:04.57 time.
Der was also a standout swimmer, participating in four separate events and finishing in the top two each time.
The men’s team still raced against themselves on Saturday, but the Aggies do not have a men’s squad.
Both teams will now focus on preparing for the Big West Championships, which take place on Feb. 11-15 in Texas.
This will be the first year the Mustangs compete in the championships since rejoining the Big West before the season.
They will be looking to continue establishing themselves as one of the most formidable teams in the conference.