ORANGE, Calif. – Fresno Pacific swim and dive wrapped up its final winter meet on Saturday morning, taking on Division III Chapman and Division I San Diego at the Allred Aquatics Center. The Sunbirds put together a competitive outing on both sides, earning 495 points on the men's side and 422 points for the women as they continue to build momentum heading into the spring slate.
"This weekend against Chapman University and University of San Diego was a great finishing point for the team," said head coach Raymond Eggert. "Unfortunately, we have been having issues with our pool, so we have not been practicing as much as we should have been. However, they showed up with great attitudes and attacked all their race anyways. It was cool to see the growth that this team has gone through when it comes to race mentality, confidence and expectations."
Chapman proved to be the primary challenger throughout the meet, posting several event leaders across both genders. San Diego, competing exclusively on the women's side, added additional depth to the field.
"Normally most of the athletes would be hard on themselves with how they performed, but giving the circumstances of the week, they were more forgiving of themselves, and to me that shows a lot of growth about realistic expectations. At the end of the day, they showed a lot of maturity this week realizing that not everything is under their control, and that is okay."
The Sunbird men delivered standout performances across the sprint and stroke events. On the men's side,
Theo Schiesari delivered an impressive performance in the 200 Backstroke, taking the win and hitting a season best with a time of 1:54.91. In addition,
Nico Barna captured second place in the 200 Breaststroke (2:08.52) to claim his season best time.
Justin Ferrer claimed first place in the 200 Individual Medley, finishing at 1:57.25.
Oskar Herbut added two second-place finishes to his belt in the 200 and 500 Freestyle.
The men's team only lost by 3 points (with FPU scoring 0 points in diving and Chapman scoring 32 points in diving).
On the women's side,
Jillian Lambert did well in the 50 and 100 Free with times of 25.06 and 56.03, securing 504 points.
Hermione Roe splashed past opponents, coming in at 1.09.49 in the 100 Breaststroke. Two personal bests were made by
Tora Elise Lynes Nordli in the 100 Fly and
Mia Monahan in the 50 Backstroke. A trio of season bests came from
Hermione Roe in 7
th in the 50 Free,
Natalie Noble in the 200 Individual Medley, and Monahan in the 100 Free.
Newly added swimmer
Lucianna Romeo crushed her first meet of the season after being 2+ years away from competitive swimming. She competed in the 50 Freestyle (split) with a time of 25.74 and the 100 freestyle, finishing at 58.81. She has been a great addition to the team and is truly excited to get more practices and meets under her belt.
Kaylin Mutoli showed incredible grit and strength in the 200 Freestyle. At last week's La Verne meet, she couldn't finish the race due to blacking out and having to be pulled from the water. Eggert said, "The fact that two weeks later, she could jump in and finish that same race after a traumatic experience like that speaks volumes of her strength and resolve. We're proud of her. Proud to have her as a Sunbird and a part of the culture that we are building over the next couple of years."
"This weekend was a strong finish for the team," said assistant coach
Rebeca Bribiesca Spears. "Overall, I'm incredibly proud of this group. We've had our ups and downs throughout the year, but this team continues to show up, give their best, and support each other no matter the conditions."
Fresno Pacific now heads into the winter training block before returning to action in the spring portion of its schedule, carrying strong momentum and a growing list of best times into the next stretch of the season.
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