Posted: Jan 31, 2021

Eagles Prep For Season With Intrasquad Meet

IRVINE, Calif. -The last time the CUI Eagles swimmers and divers competed as a full team was at the PCSC Conference Championships 11 months ago. Shaking off some rust, setting aside some jitters and overcoming a fair amount of grief, the Eagles suited up for their annual Green v Gold Intrasquad meet on Saturday at the William Woollett Aquatics Center.

Two sets of captains drafted their respective teams, set their lineups, created walk-in routines, cheers and team attire. And, at 2:00pm, the Eagles FINALLY raced.

The Mikayla Jean/Skyler Hojnacki-led "22 Carat" team defeated the Alicia Wintermeyer/Jamie Seddon/Taylor Steffen-led "Mean Green" squad in a hard-fought 139-105 battle. The Gold were led by two-time winners, freshman Georgia Caraway, junior Faith Silzel and three-time winner, junior Kyle Benjamin. Georgia rolled to wins in the 100 IM in a quick 1:02.01 (No. 2-ranked swim in the PCSC) and came back to post the fastest time in the conference in the 100 back (59.69). That backstroke swim also gives Georgia the 7th fastest time in school history in that event. Faith won the 200-500 distance double with times that are sixth and fourth in the PCSC rankings and also came back to grab a 3rd place in the 100 backstroke.

In the span of 75 minutes, All-American, defending PCSC Swimmer-of-the-Year, and multiple school record holder, Kyle Benjamin won three individual events and anchored his medley relay to victory. His 200-500 times now rank him second in the PCSC, his 1:00.32 100 breast is No. 3 and his 22.2 split on the relay is just really good for a distance guy.

Mean Green star, freshmen Breckynn Willis had a great first collegiate meet putting down a 59.48 100 butterfly good for the No. 1 ranking in the PCSC and 10th on the all-time CUI list in that event. Gold's Katelyn Thomas posted a 24.79 in her 50 free (second-best in PCSC) and Mean Green freshman Chris Haygood blasted to 21.95 (second-best in PCSC) and 48.15 (PCSC #3) times in his 50 and 100 freestyles. Other notable swims came from freshmen Tori Schachle (2nds, 200-500 free, Jade Hughes(1st, 100 breast) and Nic Depner (1st, 100 butterfly). Steffen continued his impressive streak of swimming every 500 freestyle in his collegiate career under 5:00. This 4:57 was even more impressive given that he only swam five days this week after missing the 10 previous while being quarantined!

"We were so happy to see the team compete," said CUI head coach Bert Bergen. "They had fun with the theme, got into the events and competition and when it came time, they raced. We have a ways to go and are determined to enjoy this ride, but today was so absolutely cathartic for all of us. This group has been training since the first week in October and that's a long time to just train, study, eat and sleep...and listen to coaches drone on. Today was about relaxing, learning how to battle again and preparing for the next step. We are so proud of them."