UC Davis Shines in Meet Against San Jose State, UC Santa Cruz

DAVIS, California, October 14. FRESHMAN Heidi Kucera and sophomore Scott Weltz each won three individual events for the Aggie women's and men's teams, respectively, to highlight a trio of victories by the UC Davis swimming and diving teams at Schaal Aquatics Center Saturday. The Aggie women beat San Jose State by a 169-131 final, and UC Santa Cruz by a 180-102 score. The men, who competed only against the Banana Slugs, won their dual 159.5 to 126.5.

Kucera's victories came in the 200-yard freestyle, 200 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley. Weltz won the 1,000 free, 200 breast and 200 IM, plus he led off the winning UC Davis 200 medley relay to ignite his team's overall meet victory. In just her first collegiate meet, Kucera moved into the Aggies' all-time top-10 lists in two events. Her 1:54.58 in the 200 free puts her in the No. 9 slot, while her 2:10.46 in the IM places her eighth all-time.

Weltz touched in 9:44.26 to pick up his win in the 1,000 free, good for eighth place in the program record book. He later recorded times of 2:08.84 in the 200 breast and 1:56.45 in the IM to complete his three-win day.

Freshman distance freestyler Shannon Rachford also picked up a pair of event wins for the UC Davis women, as did diver Krystal Chaldekas, who won on both boards. Rachford's winning time of 10:24.84 in the 1,000 freestyle moved her into third in the school record book. Chaldekas scored 244.20 on the 3-meter board to win a close race with San Jose State's Soraya Azarfar, then followed with an even closer win over the Spartan senior. Chaldekas finished at 229.90 on the low board to Azarfar's 225.40.

The UC Davis men all but one event against UC Santa Cruz until competing in exhibition for the final five events. The lone Slug victory came in 3-meter diving, as Adam Gutierrez ran away with the competition with his 254.50 total. Freshman Daniel Donnelly won both backstroke events by substantial margins. His time of 1:57.22 in the 200-yard race was almost three seconds faster than teammate Nik Kemp, who went 2:02.05 for second place. Earlier in the day, Donnelly went 53.81 to win well ahead of teammate Matt Crawford at 55.43.

The Aggie women put themselves in strong early position against San Jose State, getting wins in the first three events to take a 41-14 lead. Spartan senior Ashley Vrieze put an end to the opening run by leading a 1-2 SJSU finish in the 100 back. She went 58.61 with teammate Lauren Mar behind her at 59.19. Vrieze won a pair of events in the meet, as she posted a 2:09.62 in the 200 backstroke to beat the Aggie trio of Jennifer Ginsberg, Emily Medved and Janice Leung.

The UC Santa Cruz men added a win in the meet finale, the 200 medley relay. The Banana Slug `A' team went 1:28.11 to finish just a few tenths in front of Crawford, Yaluen Yu, Michael Stoner and Russ Underwoood. Erin Hunter had the UCSC women's highest finish, placing third in the 200 IM at 2:14.74.

The Aggies head south for the Tiger Invitaitonal at Pacific on October 20 and 21, then the women return home for a dual against Washington State.

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES (Double Dual)
San Jose State 170, UC Santa Cruz 95
UC Davis 169, San Jose State 131
UC Davis 180, UC Santa Cruz 102

MEN'S TEAM SCORE (Dual)
UC Davis 159.5, UC Santa Cruz 126.5

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