CBU Wins Big for Seniors

Saturday, January 20

Riverside, Calif.

12:00 PM

California Baptist University

226

UC San Diego

Photo by: Conner Schuh

CBU Wins Big for Seniors

1/20/2018 4:26:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Swimming and Diving

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RESULTS

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A hot start, which included the first five wins of the dual, helped deliver ninth-ranked California Baptist University an NCAA Division II rivalry win over No. 16 UC San Diego on its Senior Day.

The Lancers powered through to a 226-74 win over the Tritons on Saturday. There were many multi-winners for CBU, with Jerome Heidrich taking four events, Scott Tolman and Josh Walters both securing three victories each and Jacob Leahy winning two races.

It made for the perfect sendoff for five Lancer seniors: Adrien Deloffre, Robert Griffith, Alexis Ohmar, Zach Parry and Bernardo Valentim. CBU's focus now shifts to the postseason, as it will compete at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships next on Feb. 14-17 in Lewisville, Texas.

"Today, you witnessed a team that really didn't have a weakness in any race today, we showed our depth in every race," Coach Rick Rowland said. "In my opinion, this is the strongest men's team we have had in our history. We don't just have great swimmers but great divers."

CBU started the day with a win in the 400-medley relay, with Leahy, Tolman, Walters and Valentim touching in 3:22.71. The Lancers followed that with a medal sweep in the 1000 freestyle, with Griffith (9:50.45), Colton Babcock (9:52.23) and Josh Fluetsch (9:54.03) taking first through third.

Heidrich and Walters were then victorious in the 200 free (1:41.19) and 100 back (51.47), respectively. Ohmar (1:41.86) and Brandon Schuster (1:41.89) were second and third in the 200 free, while Leahy (51.58) and Josh Freeman (53.03) took second and fourth in the 100 back.

Tolman won his first individual title of his own in the 100 breast (56.15), which included a fourth and fifth-place performance from Deloffre (58.93) and Ryan Schade (59.91).

"When you start off a meet going one-two-three in the 1000 and 1-2-3 in the 200, you're in a good position," Rowland said. "We showed our depth in freestyle today, and our stroke wasn't bad, either."

UC San Diego picked up its first win of the day in the 200 butterfly, but Quiroga (1:52.60), Riley Forisstel (1:52.63) and Quinn Birtles (1:54.49) finished right on the Tritons' tail to take second through fourth in an exciting heat.

The Lancers found themselves right back on top in the 50 free, with Heidrich winning it in 21.12 and Leahy and Valentim coming in second and third, with respective times of 21.46 and 21.54 – just out touching UCSD's Justin Lee (21.60) and Sawyer Farmer (21.69) for some big points.

Heidrich won his third individual event in the 100 free (46.34), while Walters (47.02), Ohmar (47.23) and Valentim (47.32) took third through fifth.

The Lancers locked up three of the top-four positions in the 200 back, with Leahy in front (1:53.46), followed by Matt Amano in third (1:56.99) and then Schuster (1:57.94).

Tolman won both of the breaststroke events when he touched first in the 200 breast (2:01.70) to update CBU's meet record from 2015 (2:02.30). Deloffre finished fourth in the event, as well, with a 2:06.77.

Tanner Shore headlined the 500 free when CBU secured four top-five finishes, as the junior won it in 4:41.58. Colton Babcock took second in the event (4:46.64), while Fluetsch (4:50.06) and Griffith (4:50.64) followed in fourth and fifth.

Walters won another event in the 100 fly (49.86), with Quiroga taking third in the race (50.50).

Schuster (4:02.80), Tolman (4:07.27) and Sakeri Holter (4:11.56) gave the Lancers another first-through-third sweep in the 400 individual medley. It led into the Lancers winning the final event of the day, the 800-free relay in 6:51.55, thanks to Heidrich, Deloffre, Quiroga and Ohmar.

In diving, the Lancers secured four of the top-five spots on both boards. Parry won the 1 and 3-meter boards with 273.45 and 262.05 points, respectively. Garret Chew took second on the 1-meter (264.67), while Zane Freeman took fourth (238.12). Freeman (226.57) and Chew (220.80) went third and fourth on 3-meter to start their days.

"I have been waiting for this day my whole life," Parry said of his Senior Day. "It was really cool to have it finally here and be with all of my teammates in this environment and get an overall win against a really strong D-II program. It was a really good day."