Lancers Qualify Seven for CSCAA's NIC

Friday, December 14

Riverside, Calif.

2:00 PM

California Baptist University

Lancer Swim/Dive Invitational

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

Lancers Qualify Seven for CSCAA's NIC

12/14/2018 5:14:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Swimming and Diving

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

SWIM RESULTS

DIVE RESULTS

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Although there were three other teams present, California Baptist University's Lancer Swim/Dive Invitational wound up feeling like more of an intrasquad competition in Friday's first of three sessions.

The Lancers wound up racing each other for the top spots and concentrated on getting some qualifying times for the 2019 College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America National Invitational Championship. They came away with seven of those automatic-qualifying times on Friday at the Lancer Aquatics Center.

"We are following the format from the CSCAA National Invite, where they do 50-yard swims on the first day," Coach Rick Rowland said. "We had a lot of kids get those cuts today, that was kind of the focus. It is tough to get those 50-yard cuts because you rarely swim a 50 fly or breaststroke. Those should give us some extra swims at our national meet when we go."

CBU swept first through second in all eight events on Friday, and had the top-three finishers six times. It leaves the Lancers comfortably in first place with 727 points, with Fresno Pacific (213), Concordia (207) and Pomona-Pitzer (95) far behind. There are two more sessions on Saturday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at CBU.

Josh Walters was the big winner of the day for the Lancers, as he won the 50-yard butterfly in 21.71 seconds and the 50 free in 20.37. Both were qualifying times for the 2019 College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America National Invitational Championship, with his freestyle time coming in under the consideration time (21.39) and his 50 fly mark coming more than two seconds under the automatic time (23.14).

It was an impressive showing from the redshirt sophomore after he was forced to sit out the Mizzou Invite with an injury the last time CBU competed in November.

"Walters swam really well, this is kind of his meet right here and he stepped up," Rowland said.

The Lancers started the day by sweeping the first three places in the 200-freestyle relay. Walters, Jacob Leahy, Justin Quiroga and Jerome Heidrich won the race in 1:22.75, which is an automatic-qualifying time for the NIC. Robert Moseley, Josh Freeman, Thomas Pipkin and Matthew Niculae took second (1:25.14), while Colton Babcock, Sean Foster, Tanner Shore and Scott Tolman took third (1:26.30), which were both NIC consideration times.

In his first official meet of the season, Shore won an entertaining 500-yard freestyle with an NIC B cut of 4:36.97. He held off his CBU teammates Payton Thomas (second, 4:38.85) and Josh Fluetsch (4:39.23), who also had consideration times, in doing so. Babcock (4:41.45) and David Miller (4:49.64) took fourth and fifth, respectively.

CBU filled in the top eight spots in the 50 free, as well. Walters (20.37) won it in front of Babcock (20.94) and Kyle White (21.25), who also got consideration times in the race. Niculae (21.55), Shore (21.70), Thomas (21.80), Foster (21.89) and Pipkin (22.08) rounded out the top eight.

Walters also led a first-through-fourth finish in the 50 fly for the Lancers. Robert Moseley took second in 22.13, with Quiroga (22.26) and Leahy (22.43) rounding out the group and each putting up automatic NIC times (23.14).

In the 50 breast, Tolman automatically qualified for the NIC with a 25.51, while Sakeri Holter (27.15) and Foster (27.16) took second and third with consideration marks. Leahy (22.79) and Moseley (22.83) placed first and second with automatic times in the 50 back, while Quiroga (1:52.72) and Heidrich (1:53.83) went one-two with B cuts in the 200 IM.

The Lancers also swept first through fourth in the 400-medley relay. Leahy, Tolman, Quiroga and Heidrich won in 3:23.33. Moseley, Foster, Walters and Shore took second (3:24.17), and Niculae, Ryan Schade, Adityastha Wratsangka and Babcock took third (3:28.72).

CBU's divers: Zane Freeman, Garret Chew and Tyler Stevens swept first through third on the boards, despite experimenting a bit on the boards. Chew (273.95), Freeman (236.10) and Stevens (223.80) took first through third on the 3-meter board, while Freeman (234.50) topped Chew (226.60) for first at 1-meter and Stevens took third (222.55).

"It's always nice when you go first through third and it builds confidence," Dive Coach Jeff Couto said. "Everyone was throwing new dives today. We are really trying to get better so that by conference we have the list we want to throw down. The guys didn't have their best scores as a result, but it's all about getting ready for March."