SAN JOSE, Calif. - San José State women's swimming and diving hosted their final home meet of the season on Friday as they welcomed Cal State East Bay to the Student Recreation and Aquatic Center. The Spartans were dominant from start to finish and defeated the Pioneers 194-67.
The meet was the Spartans' designated senior day with 12 seniors honored with a pre-meet ceremony with family and friends.
"This is always an emotional day for the program, for the coaches and for the team," head coach Sage Hopkins said. "There were a few times today where I teared up a bit. When I was walking Maleah (Schmidt) over, her mom started crying, Maleah starting crying and I teared up. It's a bittersweet day and we really take the opportunity to reflect on the impact that each and everyone of them has had on the program, the improvements they've made and the amazing women that they've become. We're going to miss them and we realize that we are coming down to the closing weeks of them being active members of the program. From my standpoint, I'm very lucky and grateful to get to work with such great student-athletes."
The Spartans had the top finisher in 11-of-12 individual events and swept the relays as well. Seniors Erin Wayman, Gabby Heng, Chloe Limargo and Violani Auva'a all had multiple victories as the Spartans cruised to an easy team win.
It started with 200 medley relay in which the "A" team of Auva'a, Rebecca Petoe, Antoinette Loya and Madelyn Sailors edged out the "B" squad 1:45.67-1:46.22 to pick up 15 early points. Erin Wayman took the 1,000 freestyle in 10:34.10 and Heng won the first of two swims with a 1:52.57 in the 200 freestyle.
The Spartans took the top four spots in the 100 backstroke with Auva'a finishing first in 57.56 and then Limargo led the charge in the 100 breaststroke with Petoe finishing second and Cali Rowland taking third. The 200 butterfly was the lone event that SJSU did not have an individual winner, but Angelika Yngson made it as close as possible with CSEB's Victoria Zukeran edging her 2:09.33-2:09.35. It was then another 1-2-3 finish in the 50 freestyle with Loya taking the top spot in 23.87.
On the diving platform, Natasha Sondeno and Anna Jabs each competed as exhibitions. Sondeno scored a 276.08 in the 1-meter and 265.70 in the 3-meter. Jabs scored 155.18 in the 1-meter.
After a 15-minute intermission the Spartans returned to the pool for the 100 freestyle in which Heng won in 51.27. Auva'a then picked up her second win in the 200 backstroke (2:04.25) as did Limargo in the 200 breaststroke (2:21.84) and Wayman in the 500 freestyle (5:09.64). Gabriella Vieira won the 100 butterfly in 57.90 and Hanf led the way for a 1-2-3-4 finish in the 400 IM (4:34.46).
The Spartans closed the competition with the 200 freestyle relay. The "A" team of Heng, Sailors, Loya and McIntee won that as well in 1:35.47.
"It was great performance from top to bottom for the team," Hopkins said. "We've had a rocky fall with a lot of illnesses and injuries, but we are at a point now where we pretty much have the whole team reassembled. Everyone has been training great. The last three weeks of practice have just been amazing. We haven't had a bad practice in weeks, which it's just great to see that collective focus and collective mindset. At this point most of the work is done. We are about to start backing off on the workload and really just refining tactics and putting some little finishes on training."
The Spartans have one final regular-season meet remaining before heading to Minneapolis for the Mountain West Championships. They were stop off in Fresno for a dual meet against the Bulldogs of Fresno State next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
Full results of all winners and Spartan swimmers are below and in the PDF link above.
200 Medley Relay
1. SJSU "A" (Auva'a, Petoe, Loya, Sailors) - 1:45.67
2. SJSU "B" (Grimes, Limargo, Vieira, Heng) - 1:46.22, 3. SJSU "C" (Mathieson, Rowland, Nisson, Schmidt) - 1:51.16x
1,000 Free
1. Erin Wayman - 10:34.10
5. Daria Cocol - 11:00.26
200 Free
1. Gabby Heng - 1:52.57
2. Kate Hanf - 1:55.13
100 Back
1. Violani Auva'a - 57.56
2. Gabby Vieira - 57.72, 3. Madison Grimes - 58.18, 4. Makenna Mathieson - 59.23x
100 Breast
1. Chloe Limargo - 1:04.84
2. Rebecca Petoe - 1:05.43, 3. Cali Rowland - 1:07.50, 5. Maleah Schmidt - 1:09.48x, Lea Marion - 1:08.58x
200 Fly
1. Victoria Zukerson (CSEB) - 2:09.33
2. Angelika Yngson - 2:09.35
50 Free
1. Antoinette Loya - 23.87
2. Madison Sailors - 24.01, 3. Katie McIntee - 24.48, 5. Kimberlee Giggey - 24.66x, Maleah Schmidt - 25.16x, Katrina Slivkoff - 25.56x, Negin Tehranian - 26.09x
1-Meter Diving
Natasha Sondeno - 276.08x, Anna Jabs - 155.18x
100 Free
1. Gabby Heng - 51.27
2. Antoinette Loya - 51.89, 3. Katie McIntee - 52.68, 7. Kimberlee Giggey - 55.56x, Maleah Schmidt - 54.53x, Negin Tehranian - 56.17x
200 Back
1. Violani Auva'a - 2:04.25
2. Madison Grimes - 2:09.16, 3. Makenna Mathieson - 2:11.34
200 Breast
1. Chloe Limargo - 2:21.84
2. Lea Marion - 2:25.48, 3. Cali Rowland - 2:25.82, 4. Kate Hanf - 2:29.64x
500 Free
1. Erin Wayman - 5:09.64
2. Daria Cocol - 5:15.66
100 Fly
1. Gabby Vieira - 57.90
3. Rebecca Petoe - 58.37, 6. Jacqueline Nisson - 1:02.58, 8. Negin Tehranian - 1:02.84x
3-Meter Diving
Natasha Sondeno - 265.70x, Anna Jabs - 2.01x
400 IM
1. Kate Hanf - 4:34.46
2. Chloe Limargo - 4:35.23, 3. Lea Marion - 4:40.42, 4. Angelika Yngson - 4:44.03x
200 Free Relay
1. SJSU "A" (Heng, Sailors, Loya, McIntee) - 1:35.47
2. SJSU "B" (Petoe, Giggey, Vieria, Cocol) - 1:39.15, 4. SJSU "C" (Rowland, Slivkoff, Tehranian, Wayman) - 1:42.42x
x - exhibition