Mustangs Head to Utah for MPSF Swimming Championships

Wednesday, February 21

St. George, UT / DSU HPC Pool

5 P.M.

MPSF Swimming Championships

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Mustangs Head to Utah for MPSF Swimming Championships

2/20/2024 12:00:00 PM | Swimming and Diving

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly will descend upon St. George, Utah, this Wednesday through Saturday to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Swimming Championships.

For the second straight year, the swimming portion of the conference championship meet is being held outside of California at Utah Tech's Human Performance Center. Action in the pool kicks off at 5 p.m. PST Wednesday with the men's and women's 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relays. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, prelims will start at 9 a.m. PST each day with finals set to begin at 5 p.m. PST. The Cal Poly women will encounter nine other teams during the four-day meet, while the men will battle six.

A full schedule for the meet can be found here. A livestream is available on Overnght with the purchase of a subscription. You can follow the live results throughout the championships on Meet Mobile with the purchase of a subscription.

This week marks the second time this season Cal Poly has traveled to St. George for a meet. On Nov. 16-18, the Mustangs took part in the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational held at the same pool the team will swim in during conference.

The Mustangs opened the MPSF Championships this past week with the diving portion of the conference meet held at Marguerite Aquatics Complex in Mission Viejo. The divers helped Cal Poly get off to a strong start as the men's and women's team both sit in fourth place heading into the MPSF Swimming Championships this week.

On the diving board, freshman Justin Dolezal led the way, placing third in the men's 1-meter, fifth in the platform and eighth in the 3-meter. His finish in the 1-meter was the highest by a Cal Poly men's diver since the program joined the conference in 2014-15. Fellow freshman Madden Saini also shined, capturing fourth in the men's 3-meter, sixth in the 1-meter and seventh in the platform.

Entering the meet, the Mustangs are seeded in the top 10 in the conference in 12 individual events. Sophomore phenom Drew Huston owns the second-best mark in the MPSF this season in the men's 100 backstroke with a NCAA B standard time of 47.11 seconds. He is also seeded fifth in the 200 back and 10th in the 200 individual medley. Huston has had an incredible sophomore campaign, recording four top-five marks in program history. On Nov. 16-18 at the site of the conference meet, the Fox Island, Wash. native shattered the school record in the men's 100 back (47.11), and swam the second-fastest 200 back time, and fifth-fastest 100 free (44.52) and 200 IM (1:48.94) times in school history. This past August at the 2023 Speedo Junior National Championships, Huston qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 100-meter back.

Sophomore Cameron Schwantes and senior Joshua Billotte are seeded fifth and seventh respectively in the men's 1650 free entering the MPSF Championships. Sophomore Finn Schlamp is seeded No. 7 in the 200 butterfly, and senior Ryan Trichler (400 IM) and sophomore Lucas Meneghetti (200 back) are both 10th in their respective events.

On the women's side, Clovis native Olivia Sundgren has had an extremely successful freshman campaign and she will look to continue it this week in Utah. Sundgren is seeded in the top 10 in three individual events — third in the 1650 free, seventh in the 500 free and ninth in the 400 IM. Earlier this season at the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational, Sundgren swam the fourth-fastest 1000 free time in school history and fifth-fastest 1650 free.

Sophomore Melia Costa is seeded ninth in the women's 100 breaststroke. During the Mustangs' regular season finale against Pacific on Feb. 3, Costa improved upon her fourth-fastest time in program history in the 100 breast with a time of 1:03.02.

Cal Poly is looking to improve upon its seventh-place finish on the men's side and ninth-place result on the women's side at last year's MPSF Championships.

Following the conclusion of the conference meet, the Mustangs will wait to see if any of their swimmers qualify for the NCAA Championships on March 27-30 at IUPUI in Indianapolis, while Cal Poly's divers head to Flagstaff, Arizona, on March 11-13 for the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships.