The Cowboys and Cowgirls of Wyoming went to sunny Southern California on Friday to take on the Gauchos at Campus Pool in Santa Barbara. Wyoming eked out a narrow victory (132-130) in the men’s meet, and won the women’s contest (154-106). Full results here.
Women’s Meet
Wyoming’s Abby Sullivan, Maria Harutjunjan, Molly Coonce, and Emily Ridout won the 200 medley relay in 1:45.83, just .37 ahead of the UCSB quartet of Julia Mikota, Katie Records, Jamie Dang, and Lauren Vosseler.
The Cowgirls got off to a big lead in individual events with a 1-2-3 sweep of the 1000 free, led by Nicole Hlavacek’s 10:19.81. The Gauchos’ Reid Whaley fought valiantly but missed third place by .07. Wyoming went on to win the 200 free behind Emily Stucky (1:52.60).
Santa Barbara came back and won the next two events in a row: Mikota went 57.83 for the 100 back title, and Records (1:03.62) and Charis Hoppe (1:05.45) went 1-2 in the 100 breast.
Wyoming then swept the 200 fly, with Claudia Carlson (2:05.61) leading the charge. Ridout won both the 50 and 100 free (23.41 and 52.11), while UCSB’s Vosseler came in second both times (24.04 and 52.85). Wyoming won the 200 back, as well, behind Sullivan (2:05.01) and Hlavacek (2:05.85). Santa Barbara’s Elizabeth Pulido (2:07.34) was third.
The Gauchos went 1-2 in the 200 breast. Records logged her second win with a decisive 2:18.68; Alyssa Shew was runner-up in 2:21.23. Keara Chang of Wyoming went 5:03.01 to win the 500 free, exactly one second in front of UCSB’s Heren Alanis (5:04.01).
Coonce was first to the wall in the 100 fly (55.90); UCSB’s Dang was second (57.62). The Cowgirls got the final individual win, as well, with Emma Dow going 4:28.99 to win the 400 IM over Shew’s 4:30.16. Ridout, Danielle Badger, Rae-Rae Dydo, and Stucky closed out the meet with a 3:28.05 win in the 400 free relay.
Final Score:
University of Wyoming 154 – 106 University of California, Santa Barbara
Men’s Meet
The men’s contest was much more dramatic, with the outcome not decided until the final relay. The Gauchos notched the first win with a narrow victory in the 200 medley relay. Mickey Mowry, Andy Castilleja, Yoessef Tibazi, and Wade Allen combined for 1:32.40, while Wyoming’s Adam Kalms, Kyle Scalise, George Eglesfield, and Ryan O’Leary touched in 1:32.92.
Ryan Ball (9:27.83) scored the first individual win for the Cowboys in the 1000 free. UCSB’s Andrew Barmann went 9:34.05 for second. Billy Mullis of Santa Barbara took the 200 free in 1:41.77 ahead of Wyoming’s Kevin Waller (1:42.46).
The back-and-forth continued throughout the meet. Kalms of Wyoming won two (100 back-50.46, 100 free-45.00), as did Santa Barbara’s Mowry (200 fly-1:47.64, 100 fly-49.53). Scalise of Wyoming won the 100 breast (56.82), just out-touching UCSB’s Castilleja (56.93) thanks to a strong back half. Castilleja got revenge in the 200, though, when he beat Scalise 2:04:52 to 2:05.49.
Ball came back for a second win, this time in the 200 back (1:51.43). Teammate Ryan Nelson won the 500 free in 4:36.01 and the 400 IM in 3:57.54.
The Cowboys were just out of reach of the Gauchos in the 400 free relay, which sealed the victory for the visiting team. Kyle White, Ryan O’Leary, Bryce Carter, and Kalms combined for 3:02.51, featuring a 43.84 anchor from Kalms that made all the difference. UCSB’s Tibazi, Allen, Chris Dotson, and Chase Lemley touched at 3:04.21.
Final Score:
University of Wyoming 132 – 130 University of California, Santa Barbara