ATLANTA – CSU Bakersfield's swimming teams continued the AT&T Winter Nationals ono Friday as senior Dylana Milobar joined junior Lovre Soric in the pool. Soric qualified for the finals for the second night in a row while Milobar posted the fastest 100-yard breaststroke time in the Western Athletic Conference this season.
“It was another great day for the 'Runners,” said Chris Hansen, CSUB's Director of Swimming. “We are excited to wrap up Nationals with another good day tomorrow.”
Milobar, a senior from Kamloops, B.C., took her first leap into the water on Friday and posted a preliminary round time of 1:03.26 in the 100 breast. The time was a season-best for Milobar and helped her placed 35th overall among 58 of the nation's top breaststrokers.
Hansen described an equipment malfunction, which slowed Milobar down in the prelims: “Dylana had a decent swim, but she had some goggle issues that kind of screwed up her turns. We decided to time trial it and she went 1:02.5, which is not only a season-best, but seeds her first in the WAC.”
Milobar's mark in the time trial helped the senior unseat Seattle U's Blaise Wittenauer-Lee, who had the previous WAC-best time of 1:02.90.
Soric, who hails from Croatia, lowered his season-best time by over three seconds in the 200 free on Friday. The junior's mark of 1:40.20 helped Soric qualify 24th overall among 34 men and make it into the C-final for the second straight day. In Friday evening's 200 free final, Soric finished 24th again with a similar result of 1:40.35.
A time trial was also in order for Soric on Friday as the junior took on the 100 fly. A time of 49.49 was a personal-best for the Croatian, is CSUB's best time of the season, and ranks Soric in the Top 10 in the WAC this year.
“Lovre had a couple of great swims today,” Hansen said. “His 200 free was a litter faster in the prelims, but both his prelims and final times are season bests. I was super impressed with his 100 fly time trial today, a last-minute swim.”
Soric and Milobar are scheduled to wrap up the AT&T Winter Nationals with one final day of swimming on Saturday. Milobar is expected to time trial the 200 breast while Soric will tackle the 200 back in Atlanta.
~GoRunners.com~
