Sophomore swimmer Sonny Fierro won the men’s 200-yard butterfly in a non-conference dual meet against UC Santa Cruz on Saturday.
Rafael Salinas
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In the final home meet of the year, the Cal Poly swimming and diving teams made sure they left winners. Both the men’s and women’s teams were in top form as the Mustangs swept a dual meet against UC Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon at Anderson Aquatic Center.
The men’s and women’s squads outscored the Banana Slugs 166-94 and 201-74, respectively.
“Overall, we swam well, we just need to be sharper,” head coach Tom Milich said of his teams’ performance.
Cal Poly won 30 of 32 total events. Among the highlights was the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay team, which won by 18 seconds over its closest competitor. The team was made up of seniors Jill Jones, Kelsey Engel, Rachel Cleak and Danielle Wong.
In the men’s 500-yard freestyle, senior Adrian Brynnel placed first with a time of 4:43.02. Brynnel also served as the anchor for the 400-yard freestyle relay team which placed first in that event.
On the diving side, senior Sami McIntyre won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Freshman Paul Fischetti placed first in the men’s 3-meter diving event.
The Mustangs now look ahead to a matchup at UC Santa Barbara in the Blue-Green Rivalry. If Saturday’s meet is any indication of their present form, they should come out on top, according to freshman swimmer Daniella Orlandi.
“We’re really focused,” Orlandi said. “We’ve been putting our hearts and souls into it, so we should see some really good results.”
Orlandi placed first in the women’s 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, and the 200-yard medley relay.
Sophomore standout Sonny Fierro attributes Cal Poly’s success to their practice.
“Lots of work on techniques like underwaters and kicking, which is a strong suit for a lot of us and it’s a big part of swimming,” Fierro said. “We work on the little things too, like the stroke technique and the drills.”
Fierro is currently ninth overall in the Pac-12 conference in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth overall in both the 1000-yard and 1650-yard freestyle events. He won the men’s 200-yard butterfly Saturday.
Next weekend, Fierro is looking at swimming the 1000-yard or mile event, the 500 free and the 200 free.
“I’ll stick to my best freestyle events,” he said.
Milich also acknowledged his seniors’ performances. At the last home meet of their Cal Poly careers, there was a ceremony to honor the seniors.
“They’ve done more to influence the Cal Poly program than any other group I’ve been with,” Milich said. “As a collective group, what they’ve brought to the team, the dynamics, the leadership — it will be tough to replace them.”
The seniors on the team include Brynnel on the men’s squad; on the women’s side, Jean Bonsall, Rachel Cleak, Kelsey Engel, Jill Jones, Amanda Maffris, Sami McIntyre, Meaghan O’Meara, Taylor Spivey, Andrea Voigt and Danielle Wong.
In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Maffris is currently 10th overall in the 200-yard backstroke. Cleak is seventh in the 100-yard butterfly and third overall in the 200-yard butterfly.