By anchoring the 400 medley relay team to a qualifying time of 3:24.14, senior Gordon Smith (, ) became the sixth swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships during Thursday’s dual meet against the of at the .
defeated in the dual meet, as the Husky men earned a 123-91 victory while the Husky women picked up a 107-84 victory. For , the final scores were not important, as this meet was used to get the teams ready for the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships in , in two weeks.
Smith, Bryson Chiu (, ), Jakub Jiracek (Nymburk, Czech Republic), and Chris Coley (Austin, Texas) combined to post the second-fastest time of the day in the 400 medley relay, enabling Smith to head to Columbia, Mo., and compete in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle at the national meet, events in which he previously established “B” cuts.
Bryant Bevers ( Way, ) finished ahead of a Husky swimmer in the men’s 50 freestyle with a time of 21.90 seconds, while Kevin Daniels () finished a solid fourth in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:57.93, just 11/100ths of a second behind third place. In the men’s 100 breaststroke, Doug Djang () finished in third place with a time of 1:00.99.
One of the highlights on the women’s side was Kelsey Henan () establishing a team season-best time of 25.39 seconds in the 50 freestyle. also swam well in the 100 freestyle, posting a time of 56.11 seconds. Francesca Reale () finished in fourth place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.68.
The Seattle University swim teams conclude the dual meet season and now have two weeks to prepare for the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships in Long Beach, Calif. The teams will compete at the PCSC Championships on Feb. 13-16.