GENEVA, Ohio – Cal State East Bay moved into 13th place in the women's team standings at the 2014 NCAA National Championships following Thursday's races. Caitlin DeNise became an individual All-American after placing seventh in the 100-yard butterfly.




















DeNise became the first Pioneer at this year's meet to qualify for an individual championship final after posting the fifth fastest time (55.33) in the 100 fly prelims. She would record a time of 55.44 seconds in the finals to take seventh overall.

"I am very proud of this team's efforts today. To be representing East Bay in the top final at NCAA Nationals (both individually and with a relay) is a great honor and noteworthy achievement," praised East Bay Head Coach Ben Loorz. "We had a lot of swimming to do, and consequently we swam a little tired this evening. It is a testament to how aggressively and successfully we attacked the morning (preliminary) session that we were able to be in the position we were in tonight."

Cal State East Bay got off to a promising day two start in the opening 200-yard freestyle relay. DeNise's 50-yard leadoff leg in 23.35 seconds reset her own record which she has broken three times at the NCAA National Championships.

It sparked the fastest 200 free relay time in East Bay's history as Alyssa Tenney, Brittany Rojo, and Madison Hauanio closed out the race to take sixth overall. The time of 1:33.86 was near identical to their previous record time of 1:33.88 set during the morning prelims session.

Kamaehu Alboro continued her strong swims as part of the medley relay squads setting another school backstroke record. Her 56.12 leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay was her best of the day, as she posted a 56.33 in finals. She is the first Pioneer to swim the 100 backstroke in under 57 seconds.

The squad finished 15th overall in a time of 3:48.66. DeNise anchored the relay finishing her 100-yard freestyle split in 50.51, the second fastest among the seven teams that officially clocked a time.

Rojo was a near miss for the championship finals in the 100 fly after placing ninth overall in the preliminary session. Her time of 55.70 was one-tenth of a second shy of joining DeNise, and she went on to place third in the consolation final (55.83) to take 11th overall. Tenney placed 26th overall during the Thursday prelims of the 400-yard individual medley (4:36.55).

"Every single member of the East Bay national team is now either an All-American or All-American Honorable Mention. We had our first individual All-American since the early 90's with Caitlin's 100 fly finish," said Loorz. "We have fewer events to swim tomorrow and will use Friday as a resting day for several members of the squad. We're hoping to store up energy for the final session on Saturday."

Makila Schuck (100 breast) and Rojo (200 fly) are set to compete during tomorrow's prelims session which begins at 7:30 a.m. PDT.

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