California Baptist University
Seattle U/GCU
Swim and Dive Kickoff 2024 With Wins and Records
10/5/2024 4:27:00 PM | Swimming and Diving
MALIBU, CA & SEATTLE, WA - The California Baptist University men's and women's swim & dive teams took on the West Coast this weekend, battling several teams in Seattle and Malibu to different degrees.
SWIMMING
California Baptist split the squad to open the season, taking the bulk of the team to Seattle U for an early conference battle against the Redhawks and Grand Canyon. Both teams dominated the host Redhawks, with the men winning 205 - 103 and the women posting an even more lopsided score of 228.5 - 83.5. However, the Lopes would take the heads-up battle against CBU, 181-134 on the men's side and 202-112 in the women's competition.
The Lancers claimed 15 wins in Seattle out of the 34 contested events. A pair of relay wins boosted 13 individual victories, but the story of this trip might be the half-dozen pool records that the Lancers broke over the two-day meet. Both of the relay wins, men's 400 freestyle and women's 200 freestyle, earned a spot in the pool record book, with Remi Fabiani's lead leg in that relay also setting the 100 free record in a time of 44.44. Mark Kovacsics broke the 500 and 1,000 freestyle records on consecutive days, and Sofia Maksimova is the proud new owner of the Redhawk Center Pool 50 freestyle record.
Six other Lancers accompanied the relay wins, Fabiani, Kovacsics, and Maksimova in the winner's circle in Seattle. Liam Flaherty took the win in the 400 individual medley, Jonathan Reiter won his 200 breaststroke race, Andrew Teh took the dub in his 200 butterfly heat, Naya Koc took the 200 freestyle, and Lynn Henke won the 200 breast. Andrija Petkovic made a very impressive Lancer debut by joining Maksimova and Kovacsics as the only Lancers to win multiple individual races, as he took the titles in the 100 and 200 free.
DIVING
On the boards, the Lancers picked up where they left off last season, with dominant performances on both days of Pepperdine's Rodionoff Invite. In total, CBU earned seven berths to NCAA Zone Qualifiers in the season-opening meet which covered both springboard events.
CBU claimed each event's winner and four NCAA qualifying marks on opening day. CBU posted the top-four places in the men's event, but Gael Jimenez would take the 1-meter title with a score of 382.40. Mario Del Valle finished runner-up in Malibu on Friday, posting a score of 340.15. The two National Qualifiers from a season ago easily hit the NCAA mark and booked their spots in this season's Zone E Qualifiers in Federal Way, Washington. Nate Warson (284.45) and John Angelovic (282.60) would round out the top four in the competition but narrowly missed NCAA qualifying on Friday.
On the women's side, a deeper field yielded similar results as Audrey Thordarson-Wehner took the 3-meter crown with a qualifying score of 311.70. Bella Reynolds also made it to the podium and Zone E Qualification with a third-place score of 280.25. Freshman Jade Fontenelle made her collegiate debut on Friday, posting a score of 247.50 for a sixth-place finish.
Saturday saw Mario Del Valle double his Zone E qualifications, winning the men's 3-meter competition with a score of 346.50. Sophomore Angelovic also reserved a spot in the Zone E Qualifiers on Saturday as his second-place score of 328.25 put him comfortably beyond the requirement. Warson rounded out the podium spots with a 239.70 score.
Thordarson-Wehner joined Del Valle as the Lancer's double Zone qualifiers this weekend, winning both women's events by posting a score of 273.30 during Saturday's 1-meter event. Fontenelle improved on Friday's debut effort and placed third out of 22 divers with a score of 238.40. Reynolds posted a score of 223.95, which was enough to finish seventh.
NOTABLE MEN'S RESULTS
400 Free Relay - 1st Place - 2:57.94
Fabiani, Mansheim, Rinkenberger, Petkovic
400 IM - 1st Place - 4:02.85
400 IM - 2nd Place - 4:04.55
500 Free - 1st Place - 4:28.40
1000 Free - 1st Place - 9:13.04
100 Free - 1st Place - 45.27
200 Free - 1st Place - 1:38.79
200 Back - 2nd Place - 1:49.43
50 Free - 1st Place - 20.40
100 Back - 3rd Place - 49.01
200 Breast - 1st Place - 2:00.85
200 IM - 3rd Place - 1:53.99
100 Breast - 2nd Place - 56.67
100 Fly - 3rd Place - 49.20
200 Fly - 1st Place - 1:49.03
1000 Free - 1st Place - 9:53.66
200 Fly - 2nd Place - 1:59.21
1000 Free - 3rd Place - 10:01.05
100 Breast - 1st Place - 58.06
1-meter - 1st Place - 392.40
1-meter - 2nd Place - 340.15
3-meter - 1st Place - 346.50
1-meter - 3rd Place - 284.45
3-meter - 3rd Place - 239.70
3-meter - 2nd Place - 328.25
NOTABLE WOMEN'S RESULTS
200 Free Relay - 1st Place - 1:34.42
Koc, Maksimova, Svorcan, Drossel
400 IM - 3rd Place - 4:31.13
100 Free - 1st Place - 51.37
100 Fly - 1st Place - 57.02
50 Free - 1st Place - 22.67
100 Free - 3rd Place - 52.01
200 Free - 1st Place - 1:54.04
200 Back - 3rd Place - 2:07.68
200 Breast - 1st Place - 2:21.08
100 Breast - 2nd Place - 1:05.17
1000 Free - 3rd Place - 10:35.54
200 Fly - 3rd PLace - 2:08.39
Sara Svorcan
50 Free - 2nd Place - 24.01
100 Back - 3rd Place - 57.12
100 Fly - T2nd - 58.57
3-meter - 1st Place - 311.70
1-meter - 1st Place - 273.30
3-meter - 3rd Place - 280.25
1-meter - 2nd Place - 238.40
Players Mentioned
