The San Diego State swim team set out this weekend to defend its title at the A3 Performance Invitational hosted by the University of California, San Diego. The meet included women’s teams from 15 different colleges. At the end of three days, the Aztecs had proved victorious finishing first for the second year in a row.
By the end of the first day of competition, SDSU was in first place with 370 points, University of California, Santa Barbara, was following behind with 261.
On Thursday, the Aztecs took second in the 200-meter freestyle relay, with a team composed of sophomore Anika Apostalon, senior Chelsea Bailey, and juniors Whitney Weisz and Taylor Johnson.
These four swimmers all swam individually in the 50-meter freestyle later in the day, where Apostalon claimed first in the event. Bailey came in second, while Johnson finished fourth, and Weisz came in seventh.
Junior Natilee Ruiz took first place in the 200-meter medley. The Aztecs proved strong in this event with juniors Shannon Herman and Savannah Miller finishing in the top 10 in the championship races for the 200-meter medley.
In the final event of the first day, the team went on to take third in the 400-meter relay with a group composed of Apostalon, Bailey, junior Laura Day, and freshman Summer Harrison.
On the second day of competition, the team kept its lead, ending the day with 803 points leading University of California, Los Angeles by almost 150 points.
The foursome of Bailey, Harrison, Apostalon, and freshman Cecilia Zaccarelli started off the day by taking first in the 200-meter medley relay.
Three Aztecs competed in the 100-meter butterfly where Harrison finished in third, her teammates senior Loreen Whitfield and sophomore Samantha Guttmacher finished fifth and eighth respectively. Harrison’s time of 53.87 seconds earned third place and was the second-fastest ever recorded for an Aztec swimmer in this event.
Ruiz and Miller took second and third respectively in the championship final of the 200-meter freestyle. Zaccarelli added to the score by finishing fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke, and Apostalon was the only Aztec to take first in an individual event in the 100-meter backstroke.
The team of Ruiz, Weisz, Miller and senior Dana Michaels ended the day by taking third in the 800-meter freestyle relay with the time of 7:23:97.
By the end of the third day, SDSU had won the meet, beating the second-place team UCSB by almost 300 points.
The team of Apostalon, Bailey, Miller and Weisz took first in the 400-meter freestyle relay with the time of 3:18:03. Apostalon also took first in the 100-meter freestyle with Bailey taking third in this event.
The Aztecs next meet is on Nov. 29 at the Aztec Aquaplex against Air Force Academy, University of the Incarnate Word and UCSD.
