BAKERSFIELD, Calif.— The Roadrunner women's swimming and diving team started out the new year with a trip north to Fresno to battle Central Valley-rival Fresno State Sunday afternoon. Michaela Paige continued a strong winter with two individual wins, but the Bulldogs prevailed in the dual 178-122.
“Every year, Fresno State-CSUB is a close meet; unfortunately, this was their year,” said Chris Hansen, CSU Bakersfield's Director of Swimming. “Fresno State was really strong in their back events, and we were a little off in our diving and sprint events today. Turns and finishes really hurt us today.”
Despite the loss, Hansen was proud of Paige, a senior who is swimming well in her final season as a 'Runner: “Michaela won both of her individual events, the 200 fly and 500 free. It is great to have her back and be able to depend on her wins.”
A native of Lompoc, Calif., Paige earned her first win of the day by cruising to a three-second win in the 200 fly. Her winning time of 2:05.58 ranks Paige 11th in the Western Athletic Conference this season in her first attempt at the event this year. The senior went on to win the 500 free with a time of 5:08.31 before helping the 400 free relay team to a second-place finish (3:34.21) to close the meet.
“Other highlights of the meet were Dylana Milobar's 100 breast and how smart Sabrina Zavala, Darya Samiee, and Michaela Salinas swam the 1000,” Hansen said. Milobar, a junior from British Columbia, won the 100 breast (1:05.98) and finished second in the 200 breast (2:26.56) in Fresno.
The freshman trio of Zavala, Samiee, and Salinas finished first, second, and fourth in the 100 free, respectively. Zavala, a native of South Pasadena, Calif., earned her first victory in the event with a top time of 10:47.05 while Samiee came in at 10:52.38 and Salinas finished with a time of 11:08.71.
Carlee Burks, a junior diver, placed second on the 1-meter board with her second-best score of the season (271.58). The Bakersfield native went on to finish third in the 3-meter competition (247.20) while teammate Melissa Gore finished second with her second-best score (251.78) this season.
The 'Runner women will link back up with the CSUB men when the two teams will head south for a multi-team meet hosted by UC San Diego next week. The meet will take place Saturday, Jan. 9 in San Diego, Calif.
~GoRunners.com~
