Houston, Tex. - Autumn D'Arcy and Mikayla Popham each captured league titles on the second day of the WAC Championship meet at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston. Competition was limited to morning preliminary swims when a major water main break in downtown Houston resulted in the cancellation of Thursday night's scheduled finals.
"Today was a tough situation and no one wants to see athletes lose opportunities," said CSUB Director of Swimming and Diving Chris Hansen. "We expected Autumn, Mikayla, Kris and others to swim even faster tonight and push for more school records, but its still a great day with two champions and two more top-8 finishes."
D'Arcy entered today's race as the top overall seed in the 200 individual medley and was the only WAC swimmer to crack 2:03.00 in the event this year. She bested her previous season best time by 0.21 seconds, getting to the wall in 2:01.94. For D'Arcy it was her third individual WAC title, as she successfully defended her 200 IM championship from a season ago. It was also her 23rd individual win of the season, tying her with Paola Hernandez for the most wins in a DI season by a female CSUB swimmer.
Popham easily outdistanced the field by more than a full second in the 500 Free, finishing with a time of 4:52.55 to capture her first individual WAC title in her first event. She swam seven of her eight laps in under 30.00, taking the lead in her third split and never looking back. Like D'Arcy, Popham entered today's race having swam the fastest conference time in the event this season.
Senior Maddie Cosgrove finished sixth in the 500 Free to earn Second-Team All-Conference honors. Cosgrove shaved two-thirds of a second off of her personal best time in the event, which she had previously set at last season's league championship, to finish in a time of 4:57.13.
Junior Kris Rogic also earned Second-Team All-WAC honors in the men's 200 IM, posting a 1:47.41 and finishing just over half a second off of an NCAA B-Cut. Rogic's IM time placed him second in the CSUB Top-5 in the event. He set a school record in the 200 Free, when he swam the lead-off leg of the 800 Free Relay last night.
Ryan Brimer, Loren Gillilan,
Ariane Skeggs,
Bella Magalong,
Tabea Mose and
Ellice Richman each qualified for B-Finals after the morning's preliminary swims.
Brimer finished 13th in the men's 50 Free with a time of 20.26. His time was places him third on CSUB's all-time top-5 in the event, just a quarter of a second off the pace of the school record, which has been held for 18 years by Petr Kladiva.
Gillilan finished two spots behind Brimer with a time of 20.35, 0.01 hundredth of a second off of his personal best.
Three Roadrunners would score in the women's 500 Free, when Skeggs picked up an 11th-place finish in a time of 4:59.73.
Magalong added a 12th-place finish in the 200 IM, clocking a 2:06.19, while Mose and Richman tied for 12th in the women's 50 Free.
Competition is expected to resume Friday morning as scheduled with preliminary swims in the 400 IM, the 100 Fly, the 200 Free, the 100 Breast, the 100 BK and the 400 IM. The only change to tomorrow's schedule will be the addition of the 200 Free Relays to tomorrow's finals.
