EAST LOS ANGELES, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay swim team had another outstanding day on Saturday at the Pepperdine Winter Invite, showcasing its depth as several Pioneers picked up NCAA "B" cuts.
 
The Pioneers only won two of the seven races on Day 2 of the weekend meet but they got scoring contributions from all over the roster.
 
"Coming into this meet, I knew we had done the work in practice," explained Head Coach Shane Pelton. "So it's great to watch these women swimming so fast at this time in the season."
 
The day started with back-to-back second and third place finishes for CSUEB in the 200 Medley Relay. The Pioneers "A" squad of Allie Klinger, Tori Padilla, Victoria Zukeran and Isabel Rishwain touched the wall in 1:46.90, just three seconds ahead of CSUEB foursome of Alondra Ortiz, Rebecca Bay, Kelee Shimizu and Serene Augustain at 1:49.03. The East Bay "C" team of Paige Branson, Landry Walker, Abigail Mitchell and Morgan Frank notched a fifth place finish.
 
The opening individual meet of the afternoon was the 100 Fly, which saw five Pioneers earn points in the "A" final. Seniors Allie Klinger led the way with a runner-up finish in 56.02, followed by Victoria Zukeran in third, Alondra Ortiz in fifth, Kelee Shimizu in sixth and Sofia Moufarrej in eighth. Klinger earned an NCAA "B" cut for the 100 Fly. 
 
The second individual event was the 400 IM, Landry Walker paced the Pioneers with a second place finish in a time of 4:36.33. Rebecca Bay tallied a sixth place finish at 4:49.33.
 
 Nowhere was CSUEB's depth on display more than in the 200 Free. Serene Augustain garnered her second individual event victory in as many days. Augustain touched the wall at 1:52.96 and picked up an NCAA "B" cut. The Pioneers also boasted the Nos. 3-8 finishers. Morgan Frank was third, followed closely by Leah Robinson in fourth, Isabel Rishwain in fifth, Kelee Shimizu in sixth, Peyton Wayment in seventh and Maddie Wittkowske in eighth.
 
"We have some incredible depth in our mid distance freestyle," expressed Pelton. "The 200 and the 500 freestyles were pretty incredible team efforts and we look to have another dominate performance in the 100 and 1650 tomorrow."
 
Rebecca Bay and Tori Padilla both notched top 10 finishes in the 100 Breast. Bay logged a fifth place finish in 1:09.29 and Padilla was not far behind in eighth place with a time of 1:09.83.
 
Alondra Ortiz recorded the Pioneers second individual win of the afternoon with a first place finish in the 100 Back in a time of 58.46. Paige Branson tallied a third place finish, scoring key points for the Pioneers with a time of 1:00.01.
 
The Pioneers finished off the day with a dominant effort in the 800 Free Relay, as the foursome of Serene Augustain, Morgan Frank, Leah Robinson and Isabel Rishwain turned in a time of 7:41.99 to win by more than eight full seconds. East Bay's "B" team notched third place points in that event as well.
 
"I love watching some of our unsung hero's really step up and come into their own this meet, said Pelton. "Paige Branson is having her breakout performance. Alondra has been super consistent and won her first big race in the 100 back. Landry had a phenomenal 500 Free and followed it up with a 2nd place 400 IM. Morgan and Leah are performing light years ahead of where I thought they would be at this stage in their freshmen year. These are the type of swims that we need to help us perform at our conference championship."
 
East Bay wraps up its midseason meet with the third and final day of action on Sunday. The program will consist of the 1650 Free, 100 IM, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, and 400 Free Relay, with morning prelims and evening event finals.