Texas Invitational (Swimming Only)
Cal Poly Swimming and Diving Back In Action With Separate Invitationals
11/19/2024 6:00:00 PM | Swimming and Diving
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — It’s been over a month since NCAA-sanctioned competition, but the Mustangs are finally ready to go again as a select group of swimmers head to the prestigious Texas Invitational while Cal Poly’s divers will stay slightly closer to home with the NAU Invite.
Finally back to action this weekend with a group of our swimmers at Texas and the dive teams heading to NAU!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/6cV1rBE9f7
— Cal Poly Swimming & Diving (@CPSwimDive) November 19, 2024
Led by Drew Huston and Evan Yoo, the swimmers attending will include those two as well as Lucas Meneghetti, Finn Schlamp, Anthony Moskalenko, Jonathan Butler, Luke Reyes, Alex Seybold, Sam Seybold, Krishna Clarke, and Lucas Crother-Collado.
Since transferring from Army, Yoo has set Cal Poly swim alight, helping the Mustang men to their first duel win over UCSB in three years while capturing a pair of event wins including the 200 breast where he posted the third-fastest time in program history.
For his blazing start to the season, Yoo was awarded the Big West’s first Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week honor for 2024.
As is generally expected with long-course pools like the University of Texas utilizes, Cal Poly’s swimmers are looking to post potential NCAA cut times, especially after such a long break in competition spent in preparation.
Three CSCAA ranked teams are competing at the invitational, which includes hosts Texas (1), Stanford (8), Wisconsin (14), and USC (20) on top of another strong program in BYU.
The invitational will take place from Wednesday, Nov. 20 to Friday, Nov. 22 with prelims at 8:00 a.m. and finals at 4:00 p.m. everyday. Events for the three days are as follows:
Wednesday, November 20
Prelims - 8:00 AM
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
Finals - 4:00 PM
200 Free
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
400 Medley Relay
Thursday, November 21
Prelims - 8:00 AM
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
Finals - 4:00 PM
200 Medley Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
800 Free Relay
Friday, November 22
Prelims - 8:00 AM
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
1650 Free
Finals - 4:00 PM
1650 Free
200 back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
400 Free Relay
On the boards, diving will include Justin Dolezal and Lucas Lehrer for the men while the women are led by Shayna Gayer and KellyAnn Lim alongside Ava Geronimo (will not compete due to injury), Ava Lazovsky, Myl Lauc, and Abby Leight.
The Lumberjacks are a competitive diving program in their own right with recent individual invitational success against Arizona State and Arizona. However, not only is Justin Dolezal attempting to best himself as arguably Cal Poly’s second-best male diver in program history (statistically) but this will be 2024 Cal Poly Queen of the Dive Shayna Gayer’s first taste of competition since her injury earlier in the year.
Recently Dolezal enjoyed a second place finish in the 1-meter and 3-meter at a pair of Cal State Bakersfield invitations while also topping CSUB's Dyson Modica and Anderson Laing who bested him in last season's invitationals.
During the 1-meter, Dolezal came within 7 points of Denver’s two-time Summit League Men's Diver of the Year Zyad Morsy as the Mustang diver still gave Morsy a tough run. Before that, Dolezal totaled 302.70 points in the men's 1-meter against UCSB, which met the zone diving championship score qualifications.
The competition at NAU will be an all-day event taking place from Thursday, Nov. 21 to Saturday Nov. 23 and will include Cal Poly's first opportunity this season at a platform dive. The event list is as follows:
Thursday, November 21
Women’s 3-meter Prelims / Men’s 1-meter Prelims
Women’s 3-meter Finals / Men’s 1-meter Finals (top 18)
Friday, November 22
Women’s Platform Prelims / Men’s 3-meter Prelims
Women’s Platform / Men’s 3-meter Finals (top 18)
Saturday, November 23
Women’s 1-meter Prelims / Men’s Platform Prelims
Women’s 1-meter Finals / Men’s Platform Finals (top 18)
