BAKERSFIELD, Calif.-- The Roadrunner swimming and diving teams opened their home schedule on Saturday with a dual meet against Pacific at the Hillman Aquatics Complex. Bakersfield split on the day with the men swimming to a dominant 198-96 win while the women lost 162-132.
Men
Bakersfield's men coasted to a 198-96 victory over Pacific behind two victories from Mitchell Huxhold (Sr., Escondido, Calif., San Pasqual HS), Brett Emery (Jr., Sacramento, Calif., Bella Vista HS), Mihael Vukic (So., Zabok, Croatia, Univ. of Louisville), and Brayden Greenwald (Fr., Henderson, Nev., Coronado HS).
Emery stepped up in a big way for the 'Runners, taking the 100 breast (58.91) and 200 breast (2:11.27) on Saturday. He also swam a leg on the 200 medley relay team which won and the 400 free relay team which took third. “The men swam great,” said Chris Hansen, Bakersfield's Director of Swimming. “Nothing was great, but nothing was slow. Brett Emery showed maturity today which is nice to see. Since Chad McKenzie left, breaststrokers have really lost us meets for years. Brett really stepped up to take three events today.”
Huxhold continued to lead by example, winning two individual events (1000 free - 9:42.48; 500 free -4:39.41), taking second in the 200 free (1:42.61), and swimming the anchor leg for the winning 400 free relay squad (3:07.71). “Mitchell Huxhold was not that fast yet, but still won multiple events today,” said Hansen.
Vukic cleaned up with a time of 21.01 in the 50 free, nearly three tenths of a second faster than his first showing of the year. He also picked up a win in the 100 fly (50.19) while swimming legs for both of the winning relay teams. Hansen was pleased with his international swimmer's performance but also expects more: “Mihael's 50 freestyle is getting faster and faster, although, I do think he could be much faster in that event.”
While Pacific did not compete in the diving portion of the meet, Greenwald posted strong results in both the 1-meter (252.30) and 3-meter (250.90) events to pick up double wins. Gabriel Bertrand (Sr., Tibro, Sweden, Nykopingssimg Gymnasium) recorded a win in the 200 free (1:42.57), Luka Seles (So., Zagreb, Croatia, Birotehnika HS) took the 200 fly (1:56.66), and Lovre Soric (Fr., Zagreb, Croatia, X. Gimnazija Ivan Supek) won the 200 IM with a time of 1:56.27 for the 'Runners.
Women
The women struggled in the middle of the meet and started to come on at the end, but they could not complete the comeback in a 162-132 loss. Hansen had this to say of their performance against Pacific: “The women's team is small this year. We're looking forward to Fresno Pacific to swim some off events. We could have won today if we had just stepped up a little sooner, but we didn't swim bad.”
Leading the lady Roadrunners in the pool on Saturday was a group of several women who each won one event. Lauren Kaufman (Sr., Renton, Wash., TCU) earned both a victory in the 50 free (24.04) and well as high praises from her coach: “Lauren Kaufman looks faster and gets faster every time she swims this year. I'm telling you, this is going to be her best year ever.” Kaufman also swam a leg on the women's 400 free relay team which took first along with Kelsey Lange (Jr., San José, Calif., Santa Teresa HS), Michaela Paige (Jr., Lompoc, Calif., Cabrillo HS), and Paola Hernandez (So., Lompoc, Calif., Cabrillo HS).
Paige recorded a win in the 200 fly with a time of 2:05.08, but only finished second in the 500 free and 100 fly, events she often wins. Hernandez won the 100 free (51.79) and finished second in the 200 free and 200 IM. Delise Batiza (Sr., San Ramon, Calif., Oregon State) swam well, recording top three finishes in the 1000 free, 200 fly, and 500 free.
Hansen recognized that his usual swimmers struggled a bit on Saturday, but that his strong core from the middle of the pack stepped up: “Paola Hernandez swam a lot today. The girl is a fighter and she is going to give 100% in every race. The same goes for Michaela. Today seemed to be a little different than normal. Dylana Milobar and Felicia Zamora took the breaststroke events and that hasn't happened in the past. Nicolette Goncalves is getting faster in the breaststroke events. The distance events hurt us today and I'm always saying that about the breaststroke events, so, it was kind of a flip flop.”
Reigning WAC Diver of the Week Carlee Burks (So., Bakersfield, Calif., Centennial HS) once again split the diving events with teammate Melissa Gore (So., Taft, Calif., Taft Union HS.) Burks won the 3-meter board again with a score of 244.80 and finished third in the 1-meter while Gore took the lower discipline (221.18) and placed second in the 3-meter. Full results from Saturday's dual meet can be seen in the linked webpage.
The Roadrunners will continue their season next Saturday, Nov. 1, with another dual meet. Bakersfield will host Fresno Pacific with the first event scheduled to start at noon. “Fresno Pacific has some studs,” said Hansen. “Mitchell is going to have a race, which we don't say very often.” Come on out to the Hillman Aquatics Complex to root for your 'Runners. As always, admission is free for Bakersfield's swimming and diving meets.
~www.GoRunners.com~
