Dec. 2, 2006

Complete Results

San Luis Obispo, Calif. - After the two days of duals at the Cal Poly Invitational, the Lions posted wins over Cal State Northridge, San Diego, and the host Mustangs. Meet favorite Nevada swept the field both days. With the wins, Loyola Marymount swimming improves to 5-3 on the season.

Cal State Northridge planned to only participate in day one, so the Lions have only the three dual scores from Saturday. LMU topped Cal Poly 154-83 and San Diego 141-93, but fell to Nevada 142-95. The Lions had to make up the diving event points through a strong swimming effort, as LMU does not field a diving squad.

In Friday's duals, LMU defeated three of the four opponents in San Diego, Cal State Northridge, and the host Mustangs. Once again, the Lions were only passed by Nevada.

"We were able to make up the diving points quickly on San Diego and Cal Poly because we placed first and second against those teams in the first event of the meet, the 200 medley relay, which resulted in a 15-2 start," LMU Head Coach Bonnie Adair said. "This demonstrates how much depth we have when we can go 1-2 in a relay against very good teams with our 'B' team beating their 'A' team."

The Lions won three event titles on each day of competition in the five-team field, to total six titles. On Saturday, LMU placed two Lions in the top-5 in seven events.

Lauren Mathewson (100 back in 58.79) and Katie Hicks (100 free in 53.77) won the individual event titles Saturday. The Lions' 200 free relay team won the third title of the day with a time of 1:38.59.

Joining Hicks in the top-5 of the 100 free, Alex Wike placed fourth in 54.57. Hicks also finished second in the 200 free with a time of 1:56.68. Freshman Alicia Witter placed fifth in that event in 1:59.65.

In the 50 free, Mathewson and Wike gave the Lions a 2-3 finish as Mathewson took second in 24.32 and Wike placed third in 24.75.

Christine Gore swam an18:36.73 in the 1650 free, good for fourth place. Danielle Garcia was right behind her with an 18:50.31 for fifth.

For the second straight day, Morgan Finley and Sarah Hamilton posted top-5 finishes in the 100 breast. Finley took second in 1:07.77, while Hamilton was fifth in 1:10.23.

Trinity O'Neill posted a pair of second place finishes Saturday. The freshman finished second in the 400 IM (4:41.23) and in the 100 fly (59.78). In each event, she had a Lion with her in the top-5. Liz Magura joined her in the 400 IM, finishing fifth in 4:46.67, while it was Mallorie Lim with a third place finish (1:00.62) in the 100 fly.

LMU also earned points from a second place finish in the 400 medley relay (4:06.83).

In addition to Mathewson and Hicks, who claimed overall wins on both days in the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle to continue their now-two-year streak of dual victories in the events, several other Lions won critical races over San Diego, Cal State Northridge, and Cal Poly. In Friday's events, Angela Samuels captured first place in the 100 butterfly, while O'Neill took the 200 butterfly. Magura captured first place in the 200 IM with a season best time.

In Saturday's events, Morgan Finley captured first place in the 100 breast over San Diego and Cal Poly rivals, while O'Neill added another two victories in the 100 fly and 400 IM. Fellow freshman Mallorie Lim was third overall in the 100 fly and, in combination with O'Neill, posted a critical 1-2 victory over both San Diego and Cal Poly swimmers. O'Neill and Magura did the same in the 400 IM, as did Hicks and Wike in the 100 freestyle.

To cap off the meet, LMU's 200 freestyle relay "A" team of Hicks, Lim, Mathewson and Wike and "B" team of Amanda Luciano, Alexa Cook, Melanie Tansuwan and Garcia were able to pull out another 1-2 victory over USD and Cal Poly to off-set the diving points. The "A" team was the overall winner of the event by a two-body-length margin.

"As a whole, our times were a little flat after the strong performances at the Speedo Cup and that we went back into hard training after that," Adair said. "But with our depth, we still had very competitive swims and amazing relays and were able to easily win the duals against San Diego, Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge."

The Lions now return home to Burns Aquatic Center to host Northern Arizona on Monday, December 18 at noon.

-GO LIONS-