Las Vegas, Neva. - UC Santa Barbara men's and women's swim teams were victorious at the UNLV Invitational three day meet Nov. 16-18. The teams were consistently in first place at the conclusion of each day. After the full three days the women finished with a score of 1,068 and the men finished with 931.5 points.
Head coach Matt Macedo stated, "I am very impressed with the way we swam in Las Vegas as this was a new meet for our team. We approached this meet with short rest and while we had some great swims, it was our depth that really was the difference. Heaven Quintana, Emily Boggess and Jacquelyn Harris were all event winners for the women and Billy Mullis, Mason Tittle, Kevin Mendoza and Doug Nogueira put up big points for the men. Mullis also broke his own school record Saturday in the 200 backstroke by two seconds which is exciting since it's so early in the season."
Mullis has had his best season yet - and it's not even over. He has consistently won the 200 backstroke at every meet and now he has dropped two seconds to break his own UCSB school record; the new record is a time of 1:43.02. Mullis also placed third in the 100 butterfly (48.02) and first in the 100 backstroke (47.98). He was also apart of the first place winning 400 medley relay (3:14.09) with teammates Marcello Quarante, Yoessef Tibazi, and Tittle.
Nogueira racked up a huge amount of points for UCSB throughout the three day meet. He finished second in the 400 individual medley (3:55.76), third in the 100 backstroke (48.74), third in the 100 individual medley (50.16), and third in the 200 backstroke (1:47.52).
Tittle also had a fantastic meet placing first in the 50 freestyle (19.83) beating the next swimmer by 0.36 and then placed third in the 100 freestyle (44.49).
Mendoza won the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:45.81 followed by teammate Chris Nolan snatching third (1:46.76). Mendoza also placed fifth in the 100 butterfly (48.23).
On the women's side, the team was led by Quintana who earned the most points for her team. Quintana was the only woman in the 200 butterfly to break the two minute mark with a time of 1:59.36 winning her first place. She finished second in the 100 butterfly (53.74), second in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.30), and second in the 100 individual medley (57.02).
The UCSB women swept the 500 freestyle taking first, second, and third places. Leading the pack was Boggess with a time of 4:51.48 followed by Haley Herzberg (4:52.26) and Rachel Forbes (4:56.52). Boggess (16:42.39) and Forbes (16:53.89) also went on to win first and second in the 1650 freestyle.
Harris was a contributor to the 200 freestyle win for UCSB women (1:32.47) with teammates Rachel Kulik, Lexi Fusari, and Leanne Sun. Harris also placed third in the 50 freestyle (23.44) and fourth in the 100 butterfly (55.13) and first in the 100 freestyle (50.79) barely out-touching Sun who placed second (50.85).
Congrats to the Gaucho men and women for their success at the UNLV Invitational.
Macedo stated, "the majority of the team will have a break from racing until January while a small group will head to Federal Way, Washington in a couple weeks for the Husky Invite."
A few Gauchos will be heading to the Husky Invitational Dec. 1-3. Keep an eye out for the recap and results on our website. Go Gauchos!
