Results (PDF)

DAVIS, Calif. -- The No. 21 ranked Cal State East Bay swim took on a higher class of opponent than it had previously seen this season when the Pioneers visited Division I squad UC Davis on Friday afternoon.

The Pioneers wound up on the losing end of the dual meet result, but they did pick up two event victories, and overall turned in very strong times collectively. 

"We knew UC Davis was going to be a tough meet every year, but hats off to these ladies for flat out racing hard," said head coach Shane Pelton. "Today was overall one of the best dual meets we have ever had in my tenure at East Bay."

The talented Aggie squad set the tone early with first, second, and third place finishes by their "A", "B", and "C" relay teams in the 400 Medley Relay, with the Pioneer quartet of Vivy Hua, Ciera Nasso, Tatum Roepke, and Allie Klinger taking fourth.

Davis also excelled in the next event, the 1000 Free, notching the top four finishers. Newcomer Landry Walker was very close behind in fifth, touching the wall with an impressive time of 10:53.77. 

Serene Augustain led a solid CSUEB showing in the 200 Free. She swam to third place in 1:57.55 and was followed closely by Jande Monteon in fourth and Abigail Mitchell in fifth. 

Roepke then recorded her first of two runner-up finishes at the meet. The sophomore took second place in the 100 Back, posting a time of 69.16. Freshman Alondra Ortiz also scored in that event with a fourth place finish.

Fellow rookie Rebecca Bay led the way for the Pioneers in the 100 Breast by taking fifth place in 1:10.85, one second ahead of senior Laurel Carpenter in sixth and Nasso in seventh. Sophomore Sofia Moufarrej was the top Pioneer in the next race, the 200 Fly, placing fifth in 2:12.06.

Hua swam a strong sprint in the 50 Free, finishing just behind the top two Aggie finishers. The senior took third in 25:19, with teammate Lauren Ostrander also scoring in fifth place. 

Klinger earned the first victory of the afternoon for East Bay in the next race, beating all seven Davis swimmers in the 100 Free with a time of 52.28 that now ranks among the top 10 in Division II.

"Allie really swam big for us today," Pelton praised. "We have talked as a group about needing individuals to step us this year and today was her coming-out party. Not only did she win the 100 Free against some very strong competition, but to repeat the same effort 30 minutes later leading off the relay was really impressive. That's what we call growth!"

Roepke followed that by racing to another runner-up finish in the 200 Back with a time of 2:10.57. Ortiz also scored in third place, followed by Miranda McDonnell in fourth.

Bay led the Pioneers one again in the second breaststroke event of the day, posting a 200 time of 2:30.87 and touching the wall in fifth place. She was followed, again, by Carpenter and Nasso.

Augustain then paced a trio of CSUEB swimmers in the 500 Free, taking third place in 5:17.18. Payton Wayment finished six seconds behind in fourth, followed by Madison Chase in fifth.

The next event was the 100 Fly, which saw a great battle between Roepke, Klinger, and a handful of Aggies. Roepke finished four tenths of a second ahead of her teammate with a time of 58.97 and took fourth overall.

"Tatum is another women who's started to rise this year," Pelton noted. "All three of her individual races today were season bests and actually close to conference times from last season. Her versatility is great and gives us much-needed flexibility to spread her events around. She is on the path to becoming a star for this program."

Senior Ryleigh Weight followed that by turning in a lifetime best of 4:42.94 in the 400 IM to lead the Pioneers and notch a runner-up finish. Carpenter and Augustain placed third and fourth, respectively, about four seconds behind Weight.

East Bay closed out the meet on a high note, as the foursome of Klinger, Hua, Monteon, and Augustain swam to victory in the 400 Free Relay. They beat Davis's "A" team by more that a full second, compiling a total time of 3:38.14.

Next up, CSUEB has a few weeks off before heading to SoCal for their midseason meet, the Collegiate Winter Invitational, which runs Nov. 30-Dec. 2.