MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara women's swim team finished in second, while the men finished in third at the MPSF Championships at East Los Angeles College Saturday evening. Hawaii's women and men both won conference titles, as the Gaucho women ended up 28 points behind the Rainbow Wahine, as the men finished 66 points behind second-place BYU and 232.5 points behind the Rainbow Warriors.
Head Coach Matt Macedo shared his thoughts following the meet, saying "While the diving deficit proved too much to overcome yet again, I am very proud of how this team fought throughout the meet and all year long. 4 relay championships, 6 individual champions, 3 school records and a MPSF conference record show what a great meet this was for us." He continued, "It's hard to put into words what this group of seniors mean to me, my staff, and this team. Their leadership in and out of the pool will be something I will always remember."
Santa Barbara's women completed the meet with three event championships and 20 top-five individual finishes, while the men racked up eight event championships and 14 top-five individual finishes.
Highlights of the final day on the men's side were event championships by Joe Lastelic in the 1650Y Free (15:26.31) and the 400Y Free Relay team of Lastelic, Doug Nogueira, Kian Brouwer, and Justin Nguyen (2:54.89) to end the meet. The women came up big in the 200Y Fly, as Maelynn Lawrence took first (2:00.22), Dora Seggelke second (2:00.70), and Emily Boggess fourth (2:01.71).
The evening began with the 1650Y Free, in which Lawrence finished third for the women (16:53.38) and freshman Kennan Hotchkiss finished fourth for the men (15:35.29), as Lastelic took the championship.
In the 200Y Back, freshman Zoe Cosgrove touched fourth (1:57.10), while the senior Nogueira finished in third in 1:44.78. The Gauchos also received third-place men's and women's finishes in the 100Y Free, as Brouwer touched in 43.77 and Emily Ward finished in 49.33. Senior Heaven Quintana contributed a fifth-place finish in the 200Y Breast (2:15.77).
The last individual even of the night was the men's 200Y Fly, in which freshman Dominic Falcon finished second (1:46.65) and sophomore Zach Shenkin touched fifth (1:48.94).
Before the men won the event championship in the 400Y Free Relay, the women's squad of Cosgrove, Ward, Elena England, and Boggess took third in the same event with a time of 3:21.63.
The MPSF Championship meet ends the season for the Gauchos.
