MIDLAND – The Wayland Baptist swim team competed at the City of Midland Aquatics Center on Saturday in a tri-meet with UT-Permian Basin and St. Gregory's. The Pioneer men's team was hoping to get a little payback on UTPB, but the Falcons edged WBU, 103-102. WBU's women's team also fell to UTPB, 136-36, but both Pioneer clubs picked up wins against St. Gregory's. The men ousted the Cavaliers, 148-43, while the women won their first dual of the year in dominating fashion, 80-9.
"I thought we swam really well considering how hard we've been training lately," head coach Alyson Hannan said. "We were hoping we'd get a win (against UTPB) this time, but we still swam well. Maybe we'll get them in Dallas next weekend."
In their first dual of the year, the Pioneer men fell to Permian Basin, 125-80, on Oct. 4, but the Pioneers have made up a ton of ground over the past month and a half, cutting the margin of victory to just one point.
Saturday's meet was set up a bit different than what Wayland is accustomed to, featuring more 50-yard races instead of favoring 100- and 200-yard races. Still, Hannan said the Pioneers "stepped up and responded well" to a format that they've never seen before.
Hugo Gallegos,
Josiah Morales, and
Vianney Trujillo had wins in 50-yard events, while
Nathan McCormick and
Bjoern Globke took second-place finishes.
Gallegos won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.29 seconds while Morales won the 50-yard butterfly in 23.03. McCormick's time of 26.07 in the 50-yard backstroke and Globke's 26.94 in the 50-yard breaststroke were good for second place.
Also picking up an individual win for the Pioneer men's team was
Ethan Nicholson, who won the 1,000-yard free in 10 minutes, 21.01 seconds.
"Ethan swam phenomenal today, and Josiah did a really good job in the 50 fly," Hannan said.
Trujillo had the only individual win for the women's team, coming out on top in the 50-yard breaststroke in 33.29 seconds. Trujillo also had a second-place finish in the 200 free, finishing in 2 minutes, 8.28 seconds.
Miley Oberg and
Darby Dehass had third-place finishes for the women's team, with Oberg competing in the 100 free (58.80) and Dehass swimming the 50 free (26.47).
"Vianney and Miley swam really well, especially Miley when you consider that she is usually a distance swimmer for us," Hannan said. "We put her in the 50 and 100 free and she did a great job."
The Pioneers had one more win Saturday, beating St. Greg's and UTPB in the men's 200-yard medley relay. Wayland turned in a time of 1:39.20, three seconds faster than both the Cavaliers and Falcons.
"Our relays did pretty well today," Hannan said. "We want to be a litter faster at every meet, so we're where we want to be plan-wise. We're trying to get everyone's splits down so that we're better in the long run. We're not quite there yet, but we're getting there. Hopefully, we'll be where we want to be next weekend."
The Pioneers next compete in the Trinity Western Shootout in Southlake next weekend, which Hannan said is what most of their work so far this season has gone toward.
"This meet was set up in a way to see where we're at for next weekend," she said. "We really tried to train through this meet because our focus is really on next weekend."
The Trinity Western Shootout is a two-day event starting on Nov. 21.
