SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara men's swimming team kicked off their 2015-16 season opener with a duel meet against the men of USC. The Gauchos improved upon their performance from last year, winning several events.

Freshman Eric VanBrocklin completed his first Gaucho swim in the 1000 freestyle, taking fourth with a time of 9:37.44.

After breakout performances in San Diego last April and over summer, Clayton Young started off his season with a third place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:42.95).

2015 MPSF Freshman of the Year Billy Mullis took second in the 100 backstroke (51.09), just half a second behind USC's Jon Knox.

Freshman Joe Kmak made his Gaucho debut in the 100 breaststroke (57.78), taking second in the event.

Chris Nolan took home the first Gaucho win for the day in the 200 butterfly (1:50.74), winning the event by over two seconds.

Sophomore Kevin Moore took second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.48.

Clayton Young took home the second Gaucho win of the day in the 100 freestyle (46.38). Kevin Moore followed in fourth (47.46).

Billy Mullis (1:52.55) and Dylan Kubick (1:53.68) kept the UCSB winning streak alive by taking one-two in the 200 backstroke.

Chris Nolan (50.65) followed his 200 butterfly win with a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly.

Sophomore Gabe Bolender (1:56.13) took second in the 200 IM, concluding the individual events for the day.

The meet concluded with a tight race in the 400 free relay. The Gaucho "A" relay consisting of Billy Mullis (46.79), Clayton Young (45.84), Mikey Forbes (47.38), and Kevin Moore (46.84) took second in the event.

"Overall it was a great check-in of where we are early in the season. This was a really tough opponent to have first in the year, but we stepped up and won a few events," says Coach Matt Macedo.

Catch the men and women's teams next weekend for Intrasquad and the Alumni meet at 9:00 am at Campus Pool.