Meet Stats
- Complete results
- Hosted by CSU Bakersfield
- January 21, 2017
- Score
- Men: Fresno Pacific 173, CSU Bakersfield 121
- Women: CSU Bakersfield 161, Fresno Pacific 139
Press Release
Courtesy of Fresno Pacific Athletics
The Fresno Pacific men’s swimming & diving team earned a dual-meet victory, 173-121, on Saturday over NCAA Division I CSU Bakersfield at the John S. Hillman Aquatic Center. The women swam tough, but were just out-touched to fall to the Roadrunners 161-139.
“Overall, I was really pleased with our effort and energy today,” said head coach Josh Christensen. “Anytime you are swimming a team on their senior day, you know you’re going to have to match their energy and I thought we did that today.”
The Sunbirds opened the meet behind the 200 medley relay team of Luka Barisic, Maxim Shcherbakov, Aleksei Averchenko and Dmitry Belolipetskiy swimming 1:32.50 for a victory.
Collin Moore then went 9:48.01 in the 1000 freestyle for a win, also a season-best mark, to carry the momentum into the individual swims for FPU. Moore also took second in the 500 free with a time of 4:48.46
Perhaps the biggest swim of the afternoon came from Averchenko, who won the 100 butterfly at 49.43. The time is an NCAA B-cut and the fourth quickest mark in program history, just ahead of Wesley Coles at 49.46. Averchenko also won the 200 fly at 1:53.54, which is a season-best mark for the newcomer.
Shcherbakov gave FPU three victories on the day, the first in the 100 breaststroke at 55.40. He went on to sweep the breast events after taking the 200 at 2:02.25. Shcherbakov closed out his meet with a win in the 200 IM with a touch of 1:54.90.
Other strong swims came from Belolipetskiy (21.34) and Barisic (21.43), who finished first and second, respectively, in the 50 freestyle. Belolipetskiy also won the 100 free with a touch of 47.34.
On the boards, Duston Gragg won the 1-meter with a season-best score (314.02) and fell just short in the 3-meter in second (345.75).
The 400 freestyle relay team of Austin Hussain, Barisic, Averchenko and Belolipetskiy touching at 3:08.84 for a victory capped off the win.
“It was nice to see our men get a solid win today,” noted Christensen. “We really controlled the meet from start to finish. Collin really stepped up and had a big win in the 1000 and Duston had a win on the boards. That gave us the momentum early on and we didn’t look back.”
On the women’s side, the 200 medley relay team of Bavindeep Basra, Daria Belova, Madison McGinnis and Olivia Hynes swam 1:46.86 to earn a victory.
Belova went on to provide the Sunbirds with consistency throughout the meet, sweeping the breaststroke events before winning the 100 fly (57.90). Belova earned a victory in the 100 breaststroke at 1:05.06 and 200 with a time of 2:20.92. The junior still holds the top time in Division II in the 200.
Freshman Laura Fornshell continued her tear on the freestyle events, winning the 1000 free with a touch of 10:26.68 and the 500 free at 5:07.07. Hynes also gave FPU a win in the 50 free with a time of 24.37, while Meghan Go provided a strong swim in the 100 free with a second-place time of 53.61
The Sunbirds went 1-2 in the 200 backstroke, led by Olga Melnikova touching first at 2:08.19. Basra came in second at 2:08.38.
“The ladies had a tough turnaround from last night, and I was really proud of the fight they showed,” said Christensen about the quick turnaround after the Sunbirds swam last night in a dual meet with Cal State East Bay. “We got out-touched in a few places that swung the meet, but we raced tough the whole way. That type of grit will serve us well at conference and NCAA’s.”
FPU will host one final meet ahead of postseason competition. The Sunbirds take on Biola on Saturday, Jan. 28 on Senior Day at Sunnyside Aquatics Center.