Gauchos swimmers roll in Vegas

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Despite coming off a week of energy-sapping final exams and an eight-hour bus ride, the UC Santa Barbara men’s and women’s swimming teams dominated at the recent UNLV Invitational, winning 11 individual events and six relays.
Sophomore Anne Marie May won the 50 and 100 freestyle events, breaking her school records and netting NCAA automatic qualifying times. The men’s team took first place out of seven teams while the women’s team finished second of nine.

“It was very rewarding, especially the last day,” head coach Gregg Wilson said. “The kids responded to my little coach’s lecture about getting up and going. They came back in the evening and just rolled.”
A theme of struggling in morning prelims and triumphing in evening finals developed during the course of the three-day meet, Wilson said, likely a symptom of exams and lack of sleep.
After several swimmers wrapped up final examinations on Friday afternoon, the team piled into a bus and set off for Las Vegas at around 3 p.m., not arriving at their hotel until 11 in the evening.
‘It was an unbelievably long bus trip,” Wilson said. “Then the first morning, we were just flat. These kids were brain-dead from finals, they were tired from the bus trip.”
After an afternoon nap at the hotel, the Gauchos came back recharged, winning the women’s 200 free relay to open the action. Freshman Brittany Borowitz continued the charge with a win in the 200 individual medley.
Then May turned in her first school record of the weekend with a 22.60 in the 50 freestyle, touching the wall more than a second ahead of the next competitor.
“I definitely didn’t see it coming,” May said. “We had rested for the Husky Invitational, so coming off that I was pretty tired. I didn’t really feel I was in the position to go fast, so I was pretty happy when I did.”
Junior Bradley Matsumoto followed up May’s performance with his own win in the 50 free in 20.34. Matsumoto also touched first in the 100 free in 44.90.
“I was excited to get a win and it just felt good,” he said. “…I think we’re doing really well. This meet is not a very good tell of a lot of the work we’ve put in, because we just finished up finals. So seeing a lot of people swimming fast was great.”
When the Gauchos returned to the Buchanan Natatorium for Sunday morning prelims, they struggled again, Wilson said, getting out-touched at the wall, losing their goggles on the start, and failing to get swimmers in the top eight for finals.
“I was very frustrated,” Wilson said. “Before finals, we talked to the kids and I said we’re not going to get to NCAAs like this and we’re certainly not going to be conference champs like this. They went in and absolutely dominated every event.”
May beat her previous school record of 50.10 in the 100 free with a NCAA qualifying 49.34 finish. Junior Chris Good took the 200 backstroke in 1:48.81 and the 200 fly in 1:51.51.
Junior Erin Yamamoto also took home dual victories back-to-back in the 100 fly and 200 free on Sunday night, also winning the 200 fly on Monday.
“There were so many [fast swims],” May said, her voice hoarse from cheering. “A lot of people were dropping time and coming off really difficult back-to-back events and putting up stellar performances. … It was just a really happy time to be a Gaucho.”
Sophomore Courtney Bauer had what Wilson characterized as “the meet of her life.” Her times at the same meet last year pale in comparison to her performance over the weekend, he said. Her times dropped from 25.2 to 23.9 in the 50 free, 55.2 to 50.3 in the 100 freestyle, and 1:58 to 1:53 in the 200 freestyle.
“She had just a spectacular meet,” Wilson said. “It was very inspiring for the rest of the kids.”
The Gauchos will have a few days off for the holidays before returning to the pool to start training for a dual meet against top-25 ranked University of Southern California on January 12.
“We’ve got to be back on December 28 and I know it’s going to be a rough week,” Matsumoto said. “They are really going to pound us.”