SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State swim and dive program will compete in a pair of events prior to the holiday break, with Aztec divers participating in the CBU Lancer Invitational, Dec. 16-17, before the whole squad convenes for a dual meet vs. the University of San Diego on Dec. 19 at Aztec Aquaplex.
The Aztec diving delegation will travel to Mission Viejo, California, for platform competition on Friday at 10:30 a.m. PT, before heading over to the California Baptist campus in Riverside on Saturday for 1-meter and 3-meter events, which are slated to begin at 10 a.m. During the two-day invitational, SDSU will square off against host CBU and UC San Diego, as well as select individuals from UNLV on Friday only, with results available on DiveMeets.com.
The Aztecs will then play host to the Toreros on Monday at 2 p.m. PT. The SDSU-USD encounter marks the second of four meetings against the Toreros this year. The Aztecs emerged triumphant by a 33-24 tally in a season-opening pentathlon meet at home on Sept. 9.
On that day, Kristina Murphy claimed the individual title for the second year in a row after posting a combined time of 4:51.90, topping teammate Meredith Smithbaker (4:57.55), as the Scarlet and Black boasted the top nine pentathlon finishers.
The two sides will clash once again on Friday, Jan. 27, with the SDSU swim contingent racing at the Toreros' home pool, while divers remain on campus for a clash against their crosstown adversaries at Aztec Aquaplex.
Later in the spring, SDSU will wrap up its 2022-23 campaign when it plays host to USD in a long course meet on April 20. Including their annual pentathlon meets, the Aztecs have won 28 straight meetings vs. the Toreros dating back to the 2000-01 season.
The Scarlet and Black has been idle since the weekend of Nov. 17-19 when it captured the team championship at the highly competitive SMU Invitational in Dallas, Texas.
Bolstered by 18 top-three finishes, including four event titles, SDSU compiled 907 points to take home the crown, easily outdistancing second-place Hawai'i (713 pts), while Miami (FL) (677 pts) took third, followed by host SMU (666 pts).
Alex Roberts won both the 100 and 200 backstroke en route to earning Mountain West Swimmer of the Week honors for the first time in her career, while Wilma Johansson (200 butterfly) and Kristina Murphy (400 IM) emerged victorious in their respective races.
In addition, Abby Storm was named MW Freshman of the Week after advancing to the A Finals in two individual events with season-best times in the 200 backstroke (1:58.92) and 100 backstroke (54.28), the latter of which ranks eighth in program history.
With Roberts and Storm's awards, the Aztecs have garnered five conference weekly accolades already this season after Murphy (swim, Oct. 11), Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez (co-diver, Oct. 11) and Meredith Smithbaker (swim, Oct. 25) received such recognition earlier this fall.
The Aztecs are 9-0 in dual-meet competition this season after defeating Utah Tech at home by a count of 135-118 on Nov. 5. In 14 swimming events, SDSU record the fastest time in 11 races, winning nine to extend its streak of dual-meet victories to 45 straight dating back to Jan. 8, 2018.
Following Monday's meet, San Diego State will break for the holidays before returning to action for a double dual meet against Cal State East Bay and Incarnate Word on Thursday, Jan. 5 at Aztec Aquaplex. First swim is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT.