Feb. 24, 2005

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Day two proved that the competition at this year's Big West Conference in Long Beach, California is intense. UCSB men are defending their title with all their might. Garrett Porteous took the only first place finish of the night in the 500 freestyle event beating out his competitor, Mike Cohee of UCI, by nearly two seconds. Porteous' swim gives him a NCAA Division I consideration time in this event. Jamie Warm, John Allen, Scott Baer, and Grant Hurst made it a fight for the first place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, they finished second to UOP by .12 of a second. UCSB still gained a NCAA consideration time out of the race. Allen, Baer and Hurst then went on to take fifth, sixth and seventh in the 50 freestyle event all finishing within one hundredth of a second of each other. Krzysztof Zoldak of UOP, dominated the 200 individual medley event and broke the Conference record set by UCSB's Greg Latta in 1992, with a time of 1:46.84. Gaucho Pat Cary finished sixth in that event with his best time of the season, 1:53.71. Friday February 25th events my turn the tables for the Gauchos as long as they can score individual points to upset the points that will be gained in the three-meter diving. It will be a battle for first place as the meet progresses, both UOP and UCSB possess serious depth and talent.