LONG BEACH, Calif. - With day one of the Toshiba Classic in the books Thursday, a combined 16 student-athletes on the UC San Diego men's and women's swimming teams passed qualifying "A" standards for the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships while racing against some of the West's top D-I competition. This week's three-day event hosted by the Tritons features 14 men's squads while the women's field includes 26 teams. After Thursday, the UCSD men are in fourth place with 208 points, trailing only Stanford, Hawaii and Air Force. On the women's side, the Tritons are eighth at 122 points.
"We got the number of qualifiers I expected out of today's events but the way they did it was particularly impressive," UCSD head coach Scott McGihon said. "They didn't barely beat the cuts, they were way under."
On the men's side, senior Daniel Perdew took one of the highest finishes of the day for the Tritons in the 50 free, placing third at 20.19. After crossing the line at 20.10 in the prelim and beating the qualifying cut of 20.69, Perdew trailed only two swimmers, Stanford's Austin Staab and Alex Coville, at the end of the finals.
Perdew combined with teammates Sam Stromberg, Todd Langland and Blake Langland to take a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay at 1:22.32, moments behind leaders from Stanford and Hawaii but more than a second ahead of the D-II qualifying "A" standard of 1:23.49. Also in relays, the 400 medley team of Julius Espiritu, Juan Pablo Carrillo, Perdew and Todd Langland tallied a third-place mark of 3:22.49 to beat the cut of 3:24.49.
Senior Jereme Barnett-Woods recorded a 4:32.13 mark and 11th place in the 500 free, an event in which Stanford took seven of the first 10 finishing spots. Barnett-Woods' time eclipsed the "A" standard by more than two seconds. Freshman Adam Rice put together an impressive performance in the 200 individual medley, posting a time of 1:52.44 to pass the cut of 1:53.39.
"We knew what to expect out of Perdew and Barnett-Woods but the standout swimmer of the day had to be Rice," McGihon said. "His 200 IM race was outstanding."
For the Triton women, sophomore Alex Henley also raced the 200 IM strong, finishing eighth with a time of 2:03.70, obliterating the cut of 2:08.09 by almost five seconds. Freshman Katherine Tse more than held her own in the pool against Division I competition, placing 15th with a 23.65 mark, passing the "A" standard of 23.79.
In the relays on the women's side, Jessica Ferguson, Anju Shimura, Shea Kopp and Tse raced a time of 1:35.13 in the 200 free to take an eighth-place finish and top the NCAA standard by roughly one second. In the 400 medley, Henley, Mercedes O'Brien, Bellona Yuan and Tse crossed the line in seventh place with a time of 3:49.23, more than five seconds faster than the qualifying cut of 3:54.99.
"Henley performed at her usual standard of excellence," McGihon said. "Katherine Tse's performance in the 50 free was very impressive as we saw a significant time drop there."
Also qualifying with an "A" cut time was Tritons' freshman Beth Dong, racing the 500 free prelim in 5:00.15.
With powerhouses Hawaii and California consistently toward the top of the leaderboard, it was Stanford that stole the show. The Cardinal earned first-place finishes in all of the 10 combined events between the men and women competitors. Along the way, Stanford set five new meet records.
The Toshiba Classic, held at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif., continues Friday with 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay. Team scores will be available starting Friday.
