Powell Earns Strong Finish on Opening Day of MPSF Diving Championships

Thursday, February 16

St. George, UT / Human Performance Center

9 A.M.

MPSF Swimming Championships

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Powell Earns Strong Finish on Opening Day of MPSF Diving Championships

2/16/2023 10:00:00 PM | Swimming and Diving

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Senior Max Powell's performance in the 1-meter dive and junior Sean Keegan's lifetime best in the 200-yard individual medley highlighted action for Cal Poly swimming and diving at the MPSF Championships on Thursday.

"Today was a strong day," head coach Phil Yoshida said. "Four freshmen made finals, and lots of lifetime best performances both in relays and individual swims — and tomorrow will be even better. It is so wonderful when you get to see those smiles after all the hard work that has gone into their season. We are just over a third of the way into the meet and we have so much more racing and diving ahead of us."

On the first day of competition on the diving board at Marguerite Aquatics Complex in Mission Viejo, Powell earned a career best finish in the men's 1-meter at the MPSF Championships, placing sixth with a score of 283.70 in the finals. Powell, the school record holder in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, is set to compete in the 3-meter Friday.

In the pool at Utah Tech's Human Performance Center, five Mustangs advanced to the finals in the men's 200 IM led by Keegan, who captured 11th overall. In prelims, Keegan improved upon his fourth-fastest 200 IM time in school history, swimming a lifetime best of 1:48.89. Freshman Drew Huston also scored team points for the Mustangs in the event, grabbing 15th.

Keegan and Huston also teamed up with seniors Ryan Iannaccone and Brian Wong in the men's 200 freestyle relay. The quartet was .43 seconds away from shattering the school record in the event, posting a time of 1:20.78 to place eighth.

Cal Poly also earned eighth in the women's 200 free relay thanks to strong swims from Sophie Jackson, Melia Costa, Erin Kim and Amy Harter.

In the 500 free, junior Joshua Billotte secured 14th in the men's race, while senior Kaia Anderson took 15th for the Cal Poly women.

Senior Jacqui Samaniego also competed for the Mustangs in the women's 3-meter dive, finishing 13th overall. She will hit the diving board again Friday, this time in the 1-meter dive — an event she holds the program record in.

The Mustang men are currently in eighth as a team, while the women are ninth.

Competition on the third day of the MPSF Championships begins at 9 a.m. PST Friday in the pool and at 10 a.m. on the diving board.