RESULTS
ABILENE – Hitting the road for the second time in just four days, the Wayland Baptist swim team traveled to Abilene to take on McMurry University. After a strong showing in their debut against UT-Permian Basin on Sunday, the Pioneer men made history Wednesday afternoon, defeating the War Hawks, 109-85, at Phillips Family Center for their first win in the history of the program.
Head coach Alyson Hannan wasted no time in praising her team after the dual meet against McMurry.
"We swam really well," Hannan said. "We had a quick turnaround (between meets), but we were able to work on some things early in the week like turns and finishes. We just tried to improve as best we could."
Improve the Pioneers did, as they met four new national qualifying times and improved three "B" times to "A" times.
Hugo Gallegos, who won all of his events on Sunday, finished in second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.47, but made an "A" cut. Gallegos also improved from a "B" cut to an "A" cut in the 100-yard freestyle, winning again, this time finishing in 48.39 seconds.
Bjoern Globke improved to an "A" cut in both the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley. Globke won both events, finishing the breaststroke in 1:00.34 and the medley in 1:59.70.
Gabriel Phillips also put in a solid performance for the Pioneers, improving to an "A" cut in the 100-yard fly, an event he won with a time of 51.78. Phillips defeated teammate Gallegos in the 200 free with a time of 1:45.64 to make an "A" cut.
Rounding out the list of new qualifiers was
Josiah Morales who made an "A" cut in the 100-yard backstroke and a "B" cut in the 200 IM. Morales finished second in the 200 IM in 2:07.15, while winning the 100-yard backstroke in 55.97.
Just as they did on Sunday, the men's relay teams performed at a high level, defeating the War Hawks in the 200-yard medley relay, the first event of the meet, with a time of 1:37.78, before falling in the 200-yard freestyle relay in the final event.
"Our relays did well," Hannan said. "We won the medley and even though we finished second in the freestyle, we were just a couple seconds behind the qualifying time for nationals."
The women's team, swimming with limited numbers, fell to the War Hawks, 111-42, but was able to improve nonetheless.
"The girls did well," said Hannan. "We're a small team but they improved a little on their times. There was also some excitement on their relays because they had better times than they did in the past."
Vianney Trujillo led the women, winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:12.58 as well as the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:08.60.
Olivia Campbell finished second in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:22.96 and third in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:11.28.
Alyxus Chavarria swam the 200-yard IM in 2:49.52 and the 100-yard fly in 1:24.55. Rounding out the women's team was
Hailey Budnick who finished the 50-yard freestyle in 34.20 seconds and the 500-yard freestyle in 7:37.37.
After two quick duals, the Pioneers will have nearly a month before their next meet when they travel to Alamosa, Colo. to take on Adams State University at 10 a.m. on Nov. 2.
"The long break will get us prepared for some more distance events," Hannan said. "We're prepared for sprints, but we need to work on our distance."
