SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC San Diego swimmers and divers posted several winning performances at Division I UC Santa Barbara Friday, but the Tritons ended up falling to the Gauchos at Campus Pool.

On the men's side, UCSD led until late but was ultimately defeated, 154-140. The women compiled 127 points to Santa Barbara's 173. UCSD won eight events, five on the men's side, and swept the podium positions in diving.

Sophomore Nick Korth dominated in the breaststroke, winning the 100 in 57.28 and the 200 in 2:03.44. He led the Tritons to a sweep in the 100 as See Han Lee was second (58.80) and Griffin Bracke placed third (58.96).

Matt Herman, the reigning Division II national champion in the 1000 and 1650 free events, won the 1000 Friday with a time of 9:43.48.

Freshman Dane Stassi continued the strong start to his collegiate career, winning the 200 butterfly in 1:50.98. Last weekend against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Stassi won the 200 fly in 1:48.97, the second-best time on UCSD's top ten list.

The Triton men were also victorious in the 200 medley relay, topping the field in 1:33.31. Korth and Stassi, along with Eric Owens and Blake Langland, were part of the winning squad.

UCSD was leading UCSB heading into the final event, the 400 individual medley. The Gauchos finished 1-2-3 to overtake the Tritons in points and then cemented the victory by winning the 200 free relay. 

"I'm very happy with how the team performed today," said first-year UCSD co-head coach Matt Macedo. "We had many in-season best times and the men almost beat a tough Pac-12 squad. Today showed us that we're in great shape as our times stack up with the rest of the country."

Senior All-American Alex Henley was a double winner against UC Santa Barbara. She took the 200 backstroke in 2:05.79 and then won the 400 individual medley in 4:29.39. Emily Adamczyk swam a 2:21.25 to touch first in the 200 breaststroke.

The Triton diving contingent was solid on both sides. In the women's one-meter, Natalie Mouzooni (214.13), Jamie Leigh Pearce (204.90) and Hima Potu (194.18) went 1-2-3. In the three-meter, it was Pearce (226.73) taking first, followed by Mouzooni (169.43) and Potu (157.05).

For the men, the same three Triton divers finished in the same three podium spots. Tyler Runsten won the one-meter (305.18) and was followed by Adam Springer (258.15) and Luke Calkins (204.68). In the three-meter, it again went Runsten (282.75), Springer (259.28) and Calkins (240.38).

"I'm extremely proud of the Tritons today," said co-head coach Corrie Falcon. "We set high goals coming into this meet and almost every one was achieved."

In comparison to last season's meeting between the Tritons and Gauchos, the UCSD women finished 11 points closer and the men finished 10 points closer to UCSB this time around.

The Triton women compete at the University of San Diego on Nov. 12 before the entire team travels to Long Beach for the Arena Invitational Nov. 17-19.

- UCSDtritons.com -