The Arizona men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dropped back-to-back dual meets during their road trip to Northern California this weekend.
Despite some standout individual performances, the Wildcats succumbed to Stanford on Friday before falling to the California on Saturday. The two meets were the first since the resignation of head coach Eric Hansen.
During the first meet, held at the Avery Aquatic Center, the women’s team was defeated by a score of 158-137, while the men lost 185-113.
Standouts on the women’s side included sophomore Bonnie Brandon, who cruised to victory in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:47.32. Brandon also took first in the 200y backstroke and the 500y freestyle.
Freshman Tjasa Oder took first in the 400y individual medley with a time of 4:22.73. She also finished second in the 500y freestyle and third in the 1000y freestyle.
In the 1-meter diving event, freshman Michal Bower took the top spot with a score of 298.20.
As for the men on Friday, breaststroke specialist Kevin Cordes kept up his undefeated streak in individual dual meet events, taking first in the 100y and 200y races.
Junior Brian Stevens swam a personal best 19.99 seconds to pick up a win in the 50y freestyle.
The Wildcats’ last first-place finish of the day came as Michael Sheppard won the 200y backstroke with a time of 1:47.70.
In their meet against Cal the following day, the women lost 190-109, while the men were defeated 206-92.
For the women, Oder won in the 1000y freestyle with a time of 9:57.13, a full 12 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Sophomore Emma Schoettmer out-touched the field in the 100y breaststroke with a time of 1:02.27 and in the 200y breaststroke with a time of 2:13.30.
Ashley Evans swam the 200y butterfly in about two minutes flat, which was good enough for the top spot in that event.
In the 100y freestyle, senior Margo Geer finished three-tenths of a second behind Cal’s headliner, four-time Olympic gold medal winner Missy Franklin.
On the men’s side, Rafael Quintero bested the field in the 1-meter diving competition with 372.08 points, while his teammate Carter Craft came in second with a score of 296.70. Quintero also won the 3-meter event, outscoring the second-place finisher by more than 80 points.
Cordes snaked his way through the water to two more individual victories. He finished the 100y breaststroke in a cool 52.92 and the 200y breaststroke with a time of 1:56.64.
The Wildcats return home this weekend to host Texas for a two-day dual meet beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday.
—Follow Mark Armao @MarkArmao
