The swim team competed in the Bay Area Invitational on Oct. 18 at Mills College in Oakland, California. Both the men and women performed well, each taking second place.

The women finished first in both the 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay and took second in the 200 freestyle relay.

In the individual events, Senior Megan Nerud finished fifth in the women’s 100 yard backstroke and Junior Abby Blake finished fourth in the women’s 100 breaststroke. Senior Christine Tixier finished six seconds ahead of the rest of the swimmers in the women’s 200 butterfly, taking first with a time of 2:09.24.  

Freshman Lisa Tixier stood out in the meet, finishing first in the women’s 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 400 IM. Her sister senior Christine Tixier finished close behind in the 400 IM, placing second. Freshman Victoria Dunbar finished sixth in the women’s 500 freestyle, and Freshman Samantha Dammann finished fifth in the 100 butterfly. Junior Angela Kirschner and Senior Kelly Arth completed their last event of the meet, taking first and third in the 200 freestyle.

“We had a lot of swimmers get their national titles early. Performance wise, we’re doing really well. We’ve been training hard and it’s nice to see the outcome,” said Junior Kenny Alcosiba.

The men also proved successful in the relays, taking first in the 200 freestyle relay and second in the 400 medley relay.

Junior Eddie Campana led the men’s team, finishing first in the men’s 100 backstroke with a time of 54.67. In addition, Campana took first in the 100 freestyle and second in the 50 freestyle.  Senior Bretton Smith followed right behind Campana in the men’s 50 free by placing third. Sophomore Chad LeJeune also excelled in the 100 breaststroke, coming in third place.

“We’ve been working a lot on technique and strength and conditioning. We’ve done a lot of cardio work with running which transitions into the pool,” said Alcosiba.

Alcosiba placed third in the men’s 400 IM. Freshman Cort Sharp finished third in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.65. In the distance events, senior Scott West took sixth in the men’s 500 freestyle with junior William Granberry trailing close behind in seventh. Junior Charlie Nanfria also did well, finishing third in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 200 butterfly. The men completed the final event of the meet taking the top five spots in the 200 freestyle.

The swimmers continue improving by training and working on technique.

“We have a weight training coach who has given us a bunch of different weights for each morning,” said Alcosiba. “We’ve gotten stronger for each meet that way. Even though we’re tired, we still feel pretty strong in the water and powerful.”

The swim team has improved their times since the last Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive conference meet and continues to strive for a high level of success. Their next meet is at Azusa Pacific University on Nov. 1.