10.14.2007

SAN JOSE, CA -- The UCSC Swim Team faced Division 1 UC Davis and San Jose State on Saturday, October 13th. The meet was held as a double dual meet against both teams for the women, and a dual meet against Davis for the men. Despite being overpowered in the end, the slugs were able to put a good fight against both scholarship programs.

The slug men lost to the Aggies by a final score of 165-120. The women fell to the Aggies 251-46, and to the Spartans of San Jose St 227-60. Senior captain Erin Hunter placed herself on the all-time top 10 in the 200 free with a time of 1:57.10. Erin also earned her NCAA b-cut in the 200 breast with her time of 2:24.08.

On the men’s side, the 200 free relay of Kenton Drake, Ben Ferguson, Eric Hamer, and Troy Marcikic went 1:28.27 as they beat Davis for the Slug’s only win of the day. Other impressive swims for the men include senior Kenton Drake’s second place finish in the 100 breast (59.65), senior Troy Marcikic’s third place finish in the 50 free (21.85), and sophomore Ben Ferguson’s fourth place finishes in the 200 free (1:46.86) and 100 free (48.28).

Overall, the slugs were very pleased with their performance. Senior sprinter Troy Marcikic stated that: “It’s always tough to face teams that have scholarship money, but its fun to be the underdog at the same time. We definitely competed with them in some events today, and it was great to give those teams a run for their money.” Senior captain Payam Saljoughian added that: “We are far ahead of where we were last year at this point in the season, both in terms of training and times. We have some fast freshman and key returnees, and it will be exciting to see how the rest of the season turns out.”

The Banana Slug’s prepare for their next meet on November 10th, when they face the University of Denver at home.