COLUMBIA, Mo. / FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – San Diego State's swimming team finished its time at the Mizzou Invite while the diving team completed day one of the NAU Diving Invite Friday. The Aztecs' swimmers placed third out of 13 teams in Missouri with 585 points, while the diving squad swept the podium in the platform diving competition and collected second and third-place finishes in the 1-meter contest at the NAU Invite.
On the springboard, the Aztecs saw Sophomore Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez shine with a first-place finish on the platform dive, tallying a five-dive score of 253.80. Senior Marie Yacopino and sophomore Gina Cazares collected the other two podium finishes with scores of 222.45 and 221.60, respectively. Sophomore Lexi Letts, senior Delaney Gallagher, junior Erica Sarver, and sophomore Gillian Garcia rounded out the top 10 with sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth-place efforts on the platform, respectively.
Lechuga Gonzalez also secured a second-place finish in the 1-meter competition as she broke the 300-point barrier in both the preliminary and final competitions, scoring a six-dive total of 300.45 in the preliminary dives and a score of 306.90 in the finals. Yacapino rounded out the top-three finishers with a preliminary score of 296.15, her career-best and the seventh-best in program history, while collecting a finals point total of 284.25. Cazares finished fifth with a prelim score of 281.35, a career-best and ninth-best total in SDSU laurels, while marking a finals score of 269.40. Letts, Sarver, and Garcia placed sixth, eighth and tenth with their combined preliminary and finals scores of 515.50, 497.60, and 473.55, respectively.
In Missouri, senior McKenna Meyer started the day with the tenth-best time in the 200 back preliminary heats with a then-collegiate-best mark of 2:00.19, good for a spot in the B final. Freshman Riley Tapley also swam in the B final after registering her then-personal-best of 2:00.88 in the qualifying heats. The duo would go on to finish tenth and 12th overall after both topping their preliminary heat times in the finals, collecting career-best marks of 1:59.06 and 1:59.90, respectively.
Senior Alma Thormalm swam her way into the A final of the 100 free with a qualifying time of 48.93, the seventh-fastest of the preliminary heats. She cut .01 seconds off her preliminary time in her finals swim to collect an eighth-place finish.
The 200 breast saw three Aztecs qualify for the A final, as junior Klara Thormalm, senior Morganne McKennan and senior Kristina Murphy finished with the fourth, seventh, and eighth-best preliminary heat times, respectively. Thormalm held onto her preliminary placement and recorded a career-best mark of 2:11.23 to finish fourth and better her grasp on the third-fastest time in program history. Murphy swam to a time of 2:14.26 to finish seventh while McKennan touched the wall in 2:14.76 for eighth place overall.
In the 1650 free, freshman Milena Karpisz and sophomore Julia Wright both earned top-16 finishes, with Karpisz placing 11th with a career-best time of 16:54.17 and Wright finishing 16th with a mark of 17:13.25.
Vincent swam the fourth-fastest preliminary 200 fly time, registering a mark of 2:00.32, but did not earn a finals finish after recording a false start.
Rounding out the day was SDSU's 400 free relay squad of senior Peyton Wilson, Alma Thormalm, Vincent, and Meyer, who finished third with a time of 3:19.90. The mark was good for the ninth-best time in program history.
Aztec divers continue competition tomorrow at the NAU Invitational while the Aztec swimmers have a break from competition until Dec. 20 when they take on Vanderbilt and Seattle at Aztec Aquaplex. The meet is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
NAU Diving Results
1-meter
Place Diver Prelim Final Combined
1 Jennifer Cheetham 329.80 312.00 641.80
2 X. Lechuga Gonzalez 300.45 306.90 607.35
3 Marie Yacopino 296.15 284.25 580.40
4 Emily Sharrer 289.60 283.30 572.90
5 Gina Cazares 281.35 269.40 550.75
6 Lexi Letts 259.30 256.20 515.50
7 Emily Luberto 251.40 262.10 513.50
8 Erica Sarver 263.05 234.55 497.60
9 Heather Carbon 220.90 272.15 493.05
10 Gillian Garcia 239.20 234.35 473.55
11 Delaney Gallagher 216.60
Platform
Place Diver Score
1 Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez 253.80
2 Marie Yacopino 222.45
3 Gina Cazares 221.60
4 Emily Luberto 220.85
5 Jennifer Cheetham 220.25
6 Lexi Letts 217.55
7 Delaney Gallagher 216.90
8 Erica Sarver 215.70
9 Gillian Garcia 213.55
10 Emily Sharrer 213.15
11 Heather Carbon 195.65
12 Allison Shimp 165.45
13 Hailey Faith 154.60