Friday Results (PDF)

SOUTH GATE, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay swim team got off to a great start at the Collegiate Winter Invitational on Friday with impressive performances during both prelims and finals of the midseason meet's first day.

The Pioneers earned victories in three of the five women's events in Friday's program, and they scored 689 points overall to race out to first place in the eight-team field.

"I'll be honest, this team has completely exceeded my expectations today," reflected head coach Shane Pelton. "They have been dealing with quite a bit of adversity, but they have managed to stay extremely upbeat and are racing hard. We had eight individual lifetime bests today, which is remarkable for this time of the year."

East Bay opened the meet with a victory in the 200 Free Relay, as the foursome of Allie Klinger, Vivy Hua, Lauren Ostrander, and Tatum Roepke finished more than a full second ahead of runner-up Loyola Marymount. LMU is also second to the Pioneers in the overall team standings after scoring 455 points today.

CSUEB's "B" team placed fifth in the 200 Free Relay and the "C" team took 10th, providing significant additional scoring for the Pioneers.

The first individual event of the day was also an East Bay win. The Pioneers actually had the top two finishers in the 500 Free, with Peyton Wayment cruising to victory by more than four seconds. Wayment's first-place time of 5:00.28 was just shy of matching the school record held by fellow sophomore Serene Augustain, who placed second in the event at Friday evening's final after winning the prelim heat earlier in the day. Both swimmers secured NCAA "B" cuts. 

The Pioneers had eight additional swimmers score points in the 500 Free, led by Madison Chase, who placed eighth after qualifying for the "A" final. Landry Walker won the "B" final to finish ninth, followed by Abigail Mitchell in 10th, Isabel Rishwain in 11th, and Maddie Hulse in 12th.

"Peyton has been waiting for me to say it, but she really did impress me today," Pelton praised. "She finally attacked the 500 and saw the results speak for themselves. By swimming the race differently and not being afraid to make herself uncomfortable, she held speed throughout the race. And that was just one of many great 500 performances. Landry did the same thing and had a considerable difference from prelims and finals. Abby, Isabel, and Sofia all had lifetime bests and are really starting to develop this race."

Junior Victoria Zukeran was the top finisher for the Pioneers in the next event, notching third place points in the 200 IM. She was one of three CSUEB swimmers to qualify for the "A" final, with Laurel Carpenter taking sixth place and Miranda McDonnell placing seventh.

"Tori is light years ahead of where she was last year and has become a much more confident individual, which has translated great into her swimming," Pelton commented. "Her 200 IM was a very good swim, and she followed that with her fastest 100 Fly split in the 400 Medley Relay. She is really developing into a leader for this team."

Ryleigh Weight won the "B" final of the 200 IM to earn ninth place overall in the event, out-pacing the runner-up in that heat by more than a second. She was joined in that race by freshman Alondra Ortiz, who scored 13th place points.

"Ryleigh had one of the best races of the night in the "B" final of the 200 IM," added Pelton. "She battled closely the entire way and took off in the freestyle. I love the racing passion -- she flat out wanted to win that race and earned it."

Klinger was crowned the top sprint freestyler of the meet with a first place finish in the 50 Free, notching an NCAA "B" cut with a time of 23.89. Hua was right on her heels in 24.31 to earn runner-up points, and Roepke took seventh after qualifying for the "A" final in the morning. Ostrander won the "B" final in that event to place ninth overall, while freshman Ciera Nasso scored in 16th place. 

"Allie continues to mature and get better in her racing," said Pelton. "Each one of her 50s got better today, and she finished with a great 100 freestyle in the relay. I think she is really starting to believe in herself and training. It will be fun to watch her for the rest of the meet."

Roepke, Rebecca Bay, Hua, and Klinger closed out the evening by taking third place in a tight 400 Medley Relay race. The Pioneers also scored fifth place points with their "B" relay and eighth place points with their "C" relay to cap off an outstanding collective team effort.

East Bay returns to the pool at South Gate Swim Stadium on Saturday for the second day of events. The program consists of the 200 Medley Relay, 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, and 800 Free Relay, with prelims in the morning starting at 10 a.m. and finals in the evening.