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Aztecs log five NCAA “B” cut times at Texas A&M meet; finish fifth in team standings
Source: goaztecs.com
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
November 17, 2023 (Bryan-College Station, Texas) - San Diego State’s Alex Roberts emerged triumphant in the 200 backstroke on Friday to lead the Aztec swim and dive program during the final day of competition at the Art Adamson Invitational inside the Rec Center Natatorium on the campus of Texas A&M University.
The defending Mountain West Swimmer of the Year, Roberts completed the “A” finals with a winning time of 1:53.45 to surpass an NCAA “B” cut qualifying standard, while Reka Nyiradi set a season best of her own, touching the wall at 1:59.58 to place eighth in the event.
Collectively, the Aztecs racked up 365.5 points to finish the meet in fifth place, trailing host and team champion Texas A&M (1,124.5 pts), while UCLA (784 pts) took second, followed by LSU (686 pts) and Houston (376 pts). In addition, Washington State (352 pts) and Utah (342 pts) rounded out the list of participating schools at the highly competitive invitational.
SDSU logged two other top 10 placements, including its top 400 freestyle relay team of Meredith Smithbaker, Avery Turney, Evonne Stehr and Alyssa Schiller, who joined forces for a fourth-place time of 3:20.00.
Smithbaker also recorded a sixth-place swim in the “A” finals of the 100 freestyle with a season-fast 49.48 clocking, while Turney was fourth in the “B” finals with a season-best effort of 50:37. Not to be outdone, Schiller logged a career-fast 50:86 to finish fourth in the “D” finals.
Along with Roberts and Nyiradi’s performance, Riley Tapley finished third in the “B” finals of the event after touching the wall at 1:58.48, while Abby Storm won the “C” finals with an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:56.82, both of which were season bests.
In the 200 breaststroke, Christiana Williams and Moa Bergdahl both surpassed NCAA “B” cut qualifying standards as well after placing second and third in the “B” finals, respectively. Williams registered a season-fast clocking of 2:12.36, which also marked the third-best time in the event overall, while Bergdahl completed the race at 2:13.30.
Nyiradi later contributed to SDSU’s point-total with a seventh-place swim of 2:02.48 in the “B” finals of the 200 butterfly, while Mai McKenna won the “D” final in the event after touching the wall at 1:58.75 to secure an NCAA “B”cut time. However, Wilma Johansson just missed an NCAA “B” cut by 0.75 seconds after taking second in the “C” final at 1:59.98.
Earlier, Paige Mitchell (17:16.22) and Summer West (17:18.98) were the Aztecs’ top two swimmers in the 1,650 freestyle, finishing 23rd and 24th, respectively.
Seven SDSU divers competed in the platform event on Friday, as Valentina Lopez Arevalo finished 10th with an NCAA zone qualifying score of 230.70 points, while Alina Skrocki (207.25 pts) and Taylor Konopacke (202.20 pts) placed 12th and 13th, respectively. In addition, Olivia Zamudio (197.00) was slotted 15th, followed by Jules Harrison (17th, 185.85 pts), Summer Westmoreland (19th (182.20) and Jessica Schroeder (21st, 168.85 pts).
San Diego State returns to action in two weeks when select swimmers compete in the U.S. Open, Nov. 29-Dec. 2, in Greensboro, North Carolina. In addition, Aztec divers will travel up the freeway for the Riverside Diving Invitational, Dec. 1-2.
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