California Baptist University
Western Athletic Conference Championships
Jimenez Breaks Into WAC Record Books On Day One
2/22/2023 8:59:00 PM | Swimming and Diving
EDINBURG, TEXAS – California Baptist University swim and dive kicked off the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Championships with a historic run from the men's diving squad. Gael Jimenez led four Lancers into the finals of the 1-meter event on Wednesday, taking the victory in record-setting fashion.
🥇𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍🥇
Gael Jimenez shatters the old WAC and WAC Championship records in the with his 389.40-point effort on the 1-meter springboard!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/kRnrUBsrTX— California Baptist Swim/Dive (@CBUswim) February 23, 2023
At the end of day one, the Lancer women resided in seventh place out of eight competing schools. Defending champions Northern Arizona had built an early lead with 133 points, leading second-place Grand Canyon comfortably with 98 points. New Mexico State rounds out the top three with 73 points, followed by Idaho (65), Utah Tech (63), CBU (61), and Seattle U (48).
The men's team is in slightly better shape, in fourth place out of six but only 11 points out of first. Last year's champions own the early lead as UNLV posted a day one score of 102. Behind them is Air Force (95), Grand Canyon (92), CBU (91), Wyoming (69), and Seattle U (54).
The Lancers' highlight moment of day one came in the diving competition after a quartet of Lancers qualified for the finals, a first in program history. Lancer freshman Gael Jimenez cruised through the prelims with a score of 356.15, breaking the previous WAC Championship record of 338.40 in the process. Evan Honer, John Angelovic, and Jacob Penman cleared the cut line relatively easily to fill half of the finalist slots with Blue and Gold.
Jimenez crushed the final round, posting two dives that scored in the 70s, including his final dive of the night that reaped him 78.40 points. He would improve on his prelim score and post a new WAC record score of 389.40 to earn his first-ever WAC Individual Championship.
Honer claimed silver in the event after winning it in the past two years, posting a score of 319.30. Angelovic had an incredible first showing at the conference championships, putting up 295.60 points in the final round for a fourth-place finish. Jacob Penman rounded out the Lancer effort in eighth place with a score of 249.00.
Women's diving just missed having a representative in the finals in the 3-meter event. Natalia Bedolla finished the prelims in ninth place, one spot out of qualifying, with a score of 245.60, less than half a point away from competing on Wednesday night. She would claim the top spot in the consolation flight with a score of 272.25.
Between the lanes, the women's 200 medley relay took fourth with a time of 1:40.82, while the men's team's best relay finish was fifth place in the 800 Free relay, touching in a time of 6:34.22.
The Lancers are back at it for day two of the competition, starting at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday. Finals will be held beginning at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time.
Players Mentioned
