A hot Saturday afternoon at Anderson Aquatics Center set the stage for the swimming and diving editions of the Blue-Green Rivalry. The men’s team secured a 154.5-107.5 victory against UC Santa Barbara and the women’s team narrowly lost 143-137 to the Gauchos.
This was the first time in head coach Tom Milich’s 10-year stint at Cal Poly that the men’s team beat UC Santa Barbara.
Junior Caleb Davies earned a pair of victories with the best 50- and 100-yard freestyle time of the day, helping the men’s team win eight of 13 events. Sophomore Pearu Pold earned the best 1,000-yard freestyle time and the fastest 500-yard freestyle time.
The Mustangs also won the 400-yard freestyle relay thanks to Davies, junior Jack Jenner and freshmen Dominik Folkner and Dominic Dalpiaz.
The women’s team collected nine wins in 16 events on the day, with sophomore Sage Speak winning the 200- and 100-yard breaststroke and freshman Meghan Merlihan winning the 1,000-yard freestyle.
Mustangs senior Taylor Guy finished first overall with a 56.46 time in the women’s 100-yard fly, while freshman Brian Whittington won the 100-yard breaststroke for the men with a time of 56.77. Sophomore Lauren Pierce recorded a winning total score of 236.145 on the 1-meter diving board.
Sophomore Billy Mullis lead the way for UC Santa Barbara with two individual victories in the 100- and 200-yard back. Cheyenne Low took home victories for the Gauchos in the 100- and 200-yard back.
The Cal Poly women’s swimming and diving team takes on Pepperdine next week at 10 a.m.