LA JOLLA, Calif. — NCAA Division II powerhouse UC San Diego showed its strength and depth on Saturday as the Tritons swept Cal State Bakersfield at Canyonview Aquatic Center.
The Triton women won 141-102 while UCSD's men won by a 147.5-95.5 score.
Despite the sweep, the Roadrunners had several standout individual performances. On the women's side, newcomer Astrid Amsallem won three events with victories in the 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyles, while freshman Melanie Sloan swept the two diving events.
In the men's competition, Alexey Belyy was the top swimmer in the pool, walking with wins in the 200 individual medley, 200 breaststroke and 500 freestyle to become a triple-winner for the Roadrunners.
The competition at the top was very close, and it was quality of depth that made the difference on Saturday. Bakersfield's women won seven of the 13 events contested while the Roadrunner men won six events. But despite splitting first-place honors with the Tritons, UC San Diego was able to pull away with more consistent finishes at the second, third and fourth place positions.
Amsallem was dominating and showed endurance as well as speed in her wins. She won her first event in the pool, the 1,000 free, in 10:30.66 which was more than seven seconds ahead of her closest competitor and broke Breanne Hentschke's former school record of 10:32.99 set in 2003. But she came back one event later to win the 200 free in 1:54.98, impressively better than two seconds faster than second place and a time that also qualified her for the American Short Course Championships. She finished her day in the 500 free, taking the win in 5:09.96.
Sloan was the lone diver to break 200 on the 3-meter board, winning by 16 points at 201.10, as well scoring 197.85 in the 1-meter board for a win as well.
Bakersfield's other women's winner was Erin Craft in the 200 backstroke (2:10.46), which qualified her for the American Short Course Championships. Bakersfield's women also had two other individuals and two relays earn early qualifying marks to the Short Course Championships. Craft's leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay of 1:00.85 in the 100 backstroke was a qualifying mark, and the Roadrunners' 400 medley relay team of Craft, Simone Swanepoel, Niki Peck and Jennifer Ward also qualified in 4:02.06.
Peck's 2:10.55 in the 200 butterfly was a qualifying mark, and the Roadrunners' 400 free relay team of Leah Felber, Joelle Johnson, Ward and Swanwpoel were also qualifiers in 3:37.71, which was faster than Bakersfield went in that event all season last year.
Like Amsallem on the women's side, Belyy was dominating in the men's competition. His first win was in the 200 IM in 1:57.82, then continued with a four-second win in the 500 free in 4:42.47. Belyy also had an easy win in the 200 breast in 2:08.79.
Bakersfield's other men's winners were Chase Sheldon, who took more than 30 seconds off of his season best to win the 1,000 free in 9:57.67; Evan Crocker, who win the 3-meter diving event by 50 points at 267.83; and the 400 free relay team of Piotr Gegotek, Sampo Sissala, Avery Wickham and Filip Zemier who took the event in 3:10.74, just 0.02 seconds faster than UC San Diego's top team.
The Roadrunners are now off until Dec. 16 when they will compete in the three-day UNLV Winter Invitational.
