BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Men's and Women's Swim teams wrapped up the Bakersfield Invite this Saturday. Both groups of swimmers came in second place to the University of Denver – but the Gauchos have plenty to hang their hat on after the weekend. On day two the men put up 478 points (to the Pioneers' 492) and the women garnered 399 (short of DU's 437).
FROM HEAD COACH JACLYN ROSEN
"Our team had a fantastic weekend at the Bakersfield Invite," Rosen remarked. "The kids swam really well, and we loved the competitive atmosphere. We also tested out some new relays for the year, and I'm proud of the positive attitude we maintained throughout the meet. We've got a huge training block coming up, followed by racing Pepperdine and UCSD before our Mid-Season Meet."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos took thirteen events on Saturday (six by the women and seven from the men). Across the weekend Santa Barbara earned 24 total victories.
Senior, Kyle Brill built off of his great start to the Bakersfield Invite with two more tourney-best individual times and a split on the winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:02.06). He took the 400 IM at 3.53.71 and posted 1:59.22 in the 200 breaststroke.
Austin Sparrow (a member of the aforementioned 400 freestyle relay team) had himself a day too. He raced to a winning-finish of 1:38.60 in the 200 freestyle and won another relay event in the 400 medley relay (3:20.38).
Rob Carpenter and Matt Driscoll raced with Brill and Sparrow in the 400 freestyle relay. Driscoll was also joined by Jonah Lee and Zachary Tamusaitis in the 400 medley relay. Owen Berry swam his way to victory in the 500 freestyle (33.80) and Taisei Saito was a champ in the 200 backstroke (1:47.74).
The women's team captured two relay events on Oct. 12. The 400 freestyle relay was manned by Eugenie Lanilis, Tyryn Empremsilapa, Sophia Hook, and Samantha Banos (3:26.99). Hazel Derr, Samantha Banos, Miranda Stevenson, and Tyryn Empremsilapa combined for a time of 3:48.23 in the 400 medley relay.
Outside of her performance in the relays, Samantha Banos added to her impressive weekend by swimming to titles in the 200 butterfly (2:01.23) and 500 freestyle (4:57.17) for the Blue and Gold.
Hazel Derr notched her second win of the day in the 200 backstroke (2:00.95) and sophomore Enya Linson showed out – nabbing the 200 breaststroke (2:19.58).
UP NEXT
Select UC Santa Barbara swimmers will travel to Long Beach, Calif. on Oct. 19 to compete in events at the MPSF Open Water Championships. After that, the teams will return to the pool Nov. 16 against Pepperdine and UC San Diego in Malibu, Calif.
