UC Davis Women Remain Undefeated With Win Over UC Santa Barbara

DAVIS, California, January 24. HALEY Porter, Audrey DeNeffe, Liliana Alvarez and Marissa Brown each won two events apiece to lead the UC Davis women’s swimming and diving team to a win over UC Santa Barbara on Friday evening. The Aggies remain undefeated with the win, improving to 8-0 in dual meets this season.

UC Davis Press Release

Senior Haley Porter won both sprint freestyle events while taking part in two first-place relays, while Audrey DeNeffe, Liliana Alvarez and Marissa Brown each claimed two event titles, leading UC Davis to a 174-126 victory over UC Santa Barbara in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s swimming & diving meet at Schaal Aquatics Center Friday afternoon.

The Aggies improve to 8-0 in dual meets this season.

Porter edged Gaucho senior Sophia Yamauchi in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.82 seconds, then immediately followed with winning 51.24 — the No. 2 time in facility history — to claim the 100 free. She also swam the freestyle portion of UC Davis’ first-place 200 medley relay, which set a Schaal record of 1:42.52; then led off the winning 400 free relay (3:28.40) to close out the meet.

Alvarez won close races against UCSB junior Katie Records in each breaststroke event. Her 1:03.21 in the 100-yard race bested Records by a mere seven-hundredths of a second, while her 2:16.08 gave her a .41 edge on Records in the 200-yard event. Both Alvarez and Records eclipsed Yamauchi’s previous pool record of 2:16.93, set almost exactly two years prior. A three-time NCAA Championships qualifier, Alvarez also swam the second leg of the winning 200 medley relay to kick off the meet.

Brown took down both distance freestyle events, posting a 10:14.34 in the 1,000 then adding a 4:59.64 in the 500. She becomes the first Aggie to crack the five-minute mark in the 500 free in a non-championship format this season.

DeNeffe claimed victories on both diving boards en route to her 18 individual points. Her 251.40 on the 1-meter board led a 1-2-3 Aggie sweep that included Shannon Stewart (243.75) and Lucy Lafranchise (235.125), although the unofficial winner was senior Jen Meyer, who scored 255.45 as an exhibition competitor. DeNeffe finished her day with a 254.18 on the 3-meter board, just ahead of teammate Hanna Tears’ 244.05 total.

Other UC Davis event-winners comprised junior Samantha Shellem in the 200 free (1:51.74) and Hilary Hunt in the 100 back (56.91). Both times are season bests for dual meets.

The Aggies won the maximum 16 points for a top-three sweep in three events: the 200 free, 1-meter diving, the 500 free. Senior Katie Edwards (1:51.89) and freshman Kirsten Brand (1:52.06) touched home immediate behind Shellem in the 200 free, while Brand (5:01.48) and Shellem (5:01.57) boosted Brown’s win in the 500.

Gaucho senior Andrea Ward enjoyed a strong day for the visitor’s side of the ledger. She edged UC Davis freshman phenom Hilvy Cheung in the 200 fly with a pool-record 1:58.88, finished second to Porter in the 100 free at 51.24, then beat Cheung again in the 100 fly with another stadium-record 54.14. Cheung hit times of 1:59.46 and 55.52 in those respective events. The previous 100 fly record had been 56.28 by UCSB’s Katie Ure back in 2010, while the old 200 fly benchmark of 2:02.82 was established back in 2007 by UC Irvine’s Lyndsey DePaul.

UC Davis closes out its dual season at home against Loyola Marymount on Sunday for a 10 a.m. meet. The Aggies look to post their first undefeated season in program history.

Results For: UC Santa Barbara vs. UC Davis

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