Jakub Jiracek (, ) broke the pool record in the 400 individual medley and earned an “A” qualifying time in the 200 breaststroke as the men’s swim team lost to UC Davis, 133-117, in a dual meet Sunday afternoon.
One day after breaking the school record in the 400 IM, Jiracek swam a time of 4:05.47 to establish a new mark for competitions at the . He also qualified to compete in the 200 breaststroke at the NCAA Division II Championships in March, winning that event in a time of 2:05.19. In the 100 breaststroke, Jiracek finished first with a time of 58.13 seconds.
UC Davis’ depth was too much for , as the Aggies won every other event, although they swam the final four events as exhibitions, not taking any points for their performances. Daniel Donnelly posted the fastest times in the 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, and 100 butterfly, while Alex Arbios posted the best time of the day in the 1000 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
Gordon Smith () finished second in the 200 freestyle (1:44.63) and third in the 100 freestyle (48.59). He also led off the 400 freestyle relay that posted the second-best time of 3:17.47 in the event. Chris Coley (), the anchor of that relay, also finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.83 seconds.
The quartet of Bryson Chiu (, ), Jiracek, Coley, and Bryant Bevers () nearly defeated UC Davis in the 200 medley relay, finishing just 12/100ths of a second behind the Aggies with a time of 1:36.03. Later in the meet, Chiu nearly defeated Jimmy Fong of UC Davis, finishing just 11/100ths of a second behind him in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.12 seconds.
The swim teams, both men and women, will next travel across the border to face Simon Fraser in , B.C., on Saturday, Jan. 26, beginning at 1 p.m.