LONG BEACH, Calif. – Fresno Pacific finished tenth on the women’s side and sixth on the men’s side overall in the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference, but the Sunbirds were just tuning up for NAIA Nationals in two weeks. Despite their low team scores, the Sunbirds had some outstanding individual performances during the meet.
Cheyenne Coffman was the highlight of the weekend with two second-place finishes, the highest finishes for the Sunbirds on the weekend. Coffman was narrowly out-touched in both the 100 freestyle (50.67) and the 50 freestyle (23.29) by Anne Scott of NCAA Div. I Loyola Marymont. Coffman has three personal bests with both her second-place finishes as well as her ninth-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:54.41).
Coffman was named the PCSC Female Swimmer of the Year in the NAIA Division with her performance this weekend, especially after breaking the previous conference record in the 100 freestyle, but was touched out by less than a second.
On the men’s side,
Erik Thiessen was the top finisher with a third-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:52.04).
Dan Wilson and Woogie Yada finished fifth and sixth, respectively in the 1650 freestyle (16:21.09; 16:28.02).
Seamus Alger,
Carl Weigley and diver
Dan Crosby also all finished in the top-eight. Alger placed seventh in the 400 individual medley (4:07.45); Weigley was eighth in the 50 freestyle (21.39) and Crosby finished fifth and sixth in 1-meter and 3-meter diving, respectively.
“Considering we were not rested or in fast suits, I was really pleased how we swam. We are way ahead of where we were last season, and if that is any indication we are going to swim amazing at Nationals,” commented Head Coach Peter Richardson.
NAIA Nationals will begin on Wednesday, March 3 with diving and swimming will start on Thursday, March 4.