November 15, 2007

UCSC Swimmers post top times in the nation at Nike Cup

The UCSC men’s and women’s swim teams had their best meet of the season this past weekend at Nike Cup in Long Beach, Ca.  The men finished 10^th out of 17 teams, and the women finished 14^th out of 22 teams.  Both teams finished as the top division 3 team in the meet which consisted of division 1 powerhouses like Stanford and UCLA.  Although the Banana Slugs were only given a few days of rest, many of the swimmers were able to get their NCAA cuts.  The slugs finished with a total of 10 NCAA b-cuts and 2 a-cuts.

For the men, sophomore Jamie Johnson acquired a b-cut in the 200 freestyle (1:42.43).  His 200 freestyle time is currently ranked first in the nation for division 3.  Sophomore Ben Ferguson’s earned a b-cut as well in the 100 freestyle with his time of 46.28.  The 400 free relay of Troy Marcikic, Ben Ferguson, Jamie Johnson, and Andrew Miller achieved a b-cut as well.  Their time of 3:07.57 was enough to place them 3^rd in school history.  The 800 free relay of Payam Saljoughian, Jamie Johnson, Ben Ferguson, and Troy Marcikic also qualified as a b-cut with their aggregate times of 6:57.08.  The swim of the meet on the men’s side came in the 50 free.  Senior Troy Marcikic broke his own school record in the with his time of 20.82.  His b-cut swim broke his previous school record of 21.02 by two tenths.

On the women’s side, senior captain Erin Hunter stole the show as she recorded 2 b-cuts and 2 a-cuts.  On day 1 of the meet, she achieved a b-cut in the 200IM (2:08.61) and came back a few hours later to get a b-cut in the 500 free (5:04.47).  The following two days is where she really shined as she achieved 2 a-cuts in the 400IM (4:28.95) and 200 breast (2:20.89).  Both times rank her first in the nation by over 4 seconds.  Freshman breaststroker Kate O’Niel swam two b-cut times as she went 1:07.47 in the 100 breast and 2:26.79 in the 200 breast.  Senior Mariko Ikehata swam the final NCAA qualifying time with her consideration time of 59.67 in the 100 backstroke. 

Senior captain Jason Martin stated that “It was really great to see so many great times this early in the year.  We are far ahead of where we were last year at this time.”  Senior captain Payam Saljoughian added that “This past weekend showed how much of a better team we are this year, especially being able to swim the times we did on such little rest.  It is also nice to establish ourselves as one of the top division 3 teams in the country so early in the season.”  The slugs are back in the pool training for a couple weeks before their next meet on December 8^th, when they swim at the Cabrillo Senior Meet.