LMU vs. UC San Diego

LOS ANGELES, California, January 5. LMU swimmers faced what is expected to be some of the toughest competition it will see this year in the first home dual meet of the season, resulting in an impressive 131-128 Lion upset of UC San Diego on Saturday morning at Burns Aquatic Center.

The Lions, who last swam at the UC Irvine/Nike Cup from November 15 to 17, returned to the water with a splash as they raced to victory over the defending PCSC Champions from San Diego. Rebecca Plume led the Lions to the upset with 18 total points on the day, sharing the top spot with Anju Shimura and Jen Sims from UCSD. Plume finished first in the 200 yard freestyle event with a time of 1:57.65 and took home the top spot in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:15.23 to edge Shannon Simonds at 5:15.85.

Trinity O'Neill, who contributed 15 individual points for LMU, placed second in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:13.52 before touching the wall in fourth place in 1:02.69 in the day's 12th event, the 100 yard butterfly. After the break, the Monrovia, Calif. native hit the water in event 13, the 200 yard IM, claiming first with a mark of 2:14.52. In addition, O'Neill swam the third leg of the 400 yard medley relay to help the team to a second-place finish in 4:06.16.

In the day's first event, the 400 yard medley relay, UCSD's team of Aubrey Panis, Kendall Bohn, Sims and Erinn Deters took first with a time of 4:02.06. LMU's Kristen Lutjen, Angela Samuels, O'Neill and Alex Wike took second in 4:06.16.

Julia Hall led the charge in the event number two, the 1,000 yard freestyle, taking the event in 11:15.04. Fellow Lion Christine Gore placed second in the race after touching the wall in 11:21.25, followed by Stefanie Hawkins (11:39.41) and Emilie Schnarr (11:46.26) for UCSD in third and fourth. Kristina Fernandez rounded out the scoring in the event, placing fifth in 12:06.35.

The Lions took the top-three spots in the 200 yard freestyle, with Plume taking the top honor in 1:57.65. Megan Sawelson (1:58.59) and Alicia Witter (1:58.80) finished neck-and-neck to place second and third, respectively.

UCSD showed strength in the 100 yard backstroke, stealing the first and second place spots with times of 1:00.07 and 1:01.51 handed in by Shimura and Panis. Kim McKay and Lutjen finished third and fourth in the race after touching the wall in 1:02.87 and 1:03.55 for LMU.

In event number five, the 100 yard breaststroke, LMU once again claimed the top spot. Senior Samuels raced to the finish with a time of 1:08.40, just ahead of Triton swimmers Bohn (1:09.63) and Cari Cunningham (1:10.59). Alyssa Geraghty finished fourth for the Lions, claiming the position with a time of 1:12.45.

UCSD's Sims took the top spot in the 200 yard butterfly at 2:08.02, with O'Neill claiming second in 2:13.52. LMU showed signs of dominance in events seven and eight, the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events, taking three of the top-four spots (including first-place) in the 50 and the top-two spots in the 100. Carolyn Pasque took the top honor at the 50 yard distance, touching the wall in 24:94. UCSD's Deters (25.22) and LMU's Wike (25.82) and Liz Magura (25.84) finished second through fourth, respectively. Sawelson turned in a time of 54.23 to claim first in the 100 freestyle, while Wike followed up her third-place finish in the 50 with a second-place mark in the 100 with a time of 54.35.

Shimura took home first in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:10.83 for the Tritons, while Lutjen and McKay finished second and third in the race with times of 2:16.62 and 2:18.31.

UCSD's Cunningham and Bohn finished first and second in the 200 yard breaststroke, followed by LMU's Geraghty (2:34.40) and Magura (2:34.84).

Plume claimed her second individual victory of the day in event 11, the 500 yard freestyle, with a time of 5:15.23. San Diego's Simonds finished second in 5:15.85, followed by Witter in third with a time of 5:24.00.

Sims (58.84) and Karla Holman (1:00.76) finished first and second, in that order, in the 100 yard butterfly, just ahead of LMU's Samuels (1:00.81) and O'Neill (1:02.69) in event number 12.

The day's final race, the 400 yard freestyle relay, saw an extremely competitive swim that capped a very close and well-fought meet. The team of Simonds, Lauren Forbes, Panis and Shimura narrowly edged the Lions squad of Sawelson, Wike, Pasque and Witter, finishing in 3:39.13 compared to 3:39.38.

After all tabulation had occurred, LMU emerged on top by a count of 131-128 to topple UC San Diego. The Lions will now head to Maui, Hawaii to train and compete against various squads including the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. The Lions will swim in Maui from January 6 to 12 before hosting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on January 18 at 1:00 p.m. at Burns Aquatic Center.

Special thanks to LMU for contributing this report.

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