The Cal State Northridge women’s swim team competed in the third annual Pentathlon hosted by Loyola Marymount University at the Burns Aquatic Center on Nov. 11.
The Matadors competed against LMU and the Pepperdine Waves and performed well.
In the 200-yard freestyle, CSUN junior Sanda Jukic finished in first place with a time of 1:57.83. Jukic took an early lead and never looked back. A late push in the last two laps by Pepperdine’s LoriAnn Mark was not enough to gain ground on Jukic. Mark finished in a time of 1:59.04. Freshman Shannon Colavito also competed in the race for CSUN. Colavito came in 5th place with a time of 2:00.19.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Jukic and Colavito took the two top spots. Jukic finished in first place with a 5:11.88 finish and Colavito came in right behind her in a time of 5:13.01.
Sophomore Simone Luker finished in second place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:10.49 time. Senior Diana Daltorio (1:12.11) finished in fourth and freshman Olesya Senicheva(1:12.43) placed sixth, just beating out LMU’s Melanie Tansuwan, who finished in 1:12.47.
In the 50-yard breaststroke, junior Robyn Johnson placed first with a 30.38 finish. Pepperdine’s Dani Kimmel (30.59) and LMU’s Angela Samuels (30.86) finished right behind Johnson.
In the short Pentathlon competitions, Kimmel finished with the best overall performance with a combined time of 2:53.72 followed by LMU’s Samuels (2:54.57) and Mallorie Lim (2:57.54). Johnson finished in fourth overall and first for CSUN with a combined time of 3:01.05. Junior Elise Schuetz (3:05.60) placed eighth.
CSUN performed better in the long Pentathlon. Senicheva finished second with a combined time of 6:20.46. Senior Melanie Cuppitt finished seventh with a 6:39.04 combined time.
The Matadors’ best performance came in the freestyle Pentathlon where Jukic took the No. 1 spot. Jukic raced for a combined time of 14:51.51 followed by LMU’s Alicia Witter (15:12.59) and another CSUN swimmer Colavito (15:14.78).
Up next, the Matadors will head further down the 405 freeway to Long Beach for the Speedo Cup hosted by UC Irvine, scheduled on Nov. 16 to 18.
