MONTEREY PARK, Calif.-- The second day of the A3 Performance Invitational came to a close Friday night, but not without the CSU Bakersfield swimming teams making a splash. The Roadrunners' performances were highlighted by Dylana Milobar's NCAA 'B' cut in the 100 breaststroke while the women's 800 free relay 'A' team cracked the CSUB Top 5.
Milobar posted the fastest qualifying time Friday morning in the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1:03.09 was good enough to lower the native of British Columbia's personal best in the event by four tenths of a second. She went on to win the event in the final with a time of 1:02.21, remaining second all-time in the event for CSUB, but is inching her way closer to Rachel McCall's record from the 2010-11 season. She also recorded an NCAA 'B' cut, just getting under the required mark of 1:02.49.
“Dylana has been working on her pullouts and turns all season,” said Chris Hansen, Director of Swimming for CSUB. “It showed tonight. This is a big time for her this early in the season. I can't wait to see her swim this race with a taper and shave.”
The CSUB women's 800 free relay team that took home a Western Athletic Conference title in 2015 lost half of its winning members. On Friday, Paola Hernandez and Kelsey Lange were joined by freshmen Sabrina Zavala and Darya Samiee to tackle the event. The quartet finished the relay with a time of 7:38.86, good enough to sneak into the CSUB Top 5 in the event.
Hansen was pleased with his relay team's performance, but is convinced the 'Runners can post a stronger time: “Paola, Kelsey, Sabrina, and Darya were solid. Paola's lead-off of 1:51.32 was a solid swim and puts her where she needs to be. We have to figure out who is going to be on the relay at the end of the year. We have a lot of contenders.”
Zavala continued to impress after a strong opening day. The freshman's time (5:00.55) in Thursday's final of the 500 free left her just over a second outside of CSUB's Top 5 in the event. On Friday, Zavala did the same in the 400 IM (4:34.92) as she moves closer to writing her name in the CSUB record book in another event.
“Felicia Zamora really impressed me with her 400 IM tonight,” Hansen said. “She hasn't been this fast since her freshman year. The 100 back; this is the reason we recruited Tatum Collatz! We knew she had a hidden talent she hasn't tapped into yet.” Zamora (4:35.92) missed resetting her personal best by less than a second while Collatz swam the 100 back in 58.75.
For the 'Runner men, freshman Justice Kramer lowered his personal best in the men's 400 IM. The native of Federal Way, Wash. came into the meet with a collegiate-best 4:11.09 but smashed that by almost ten seconds in the prelim (4:01.35) to qualify for the consolation finals. Mario Vasquez came in close behind Kramer at 4:04.30 after a prelim time of 4:03.24 while both men finished in the Top 16 in the finals on Friday.
“I was pumped for Justice and Mario today,” said Hansen. “We tried a new event with Lovre Soric today, the 100 breast, and it paid off big time.” Soric placed 14th in the finals after a time of 56.80 in the preliminary heats.
In the 100 fly, junior Mihael Vukic finished 14th in the finals (49.35) with his fastest time of the year. “Mihael is starting to get it,” Hansen said. “If he cleans up some technique items, he could be really fast this year.”
Hansen is looking for a new group of 'A' relay members in the men's 800 free after losing three of four from last year's WAC Championships squad. Soric, Christopher Salcido, Owen van Krimpen, and Joe Cobarrubias took a crack at the event on Friday and posted a time of 6:47.38 in a seventh-place finish.
The Roadrunner men and women will jump into the pool on Saturday for the final day of the A3 Invite. The morning prelims will be followed by 1650 free heats midday and the meet will wrap up with the last set of finals Saturday night.
~GoRunners.com~
