SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - Nine different College of Idaho athletes hit NAIA national marks, combining for eight NAIA "A" and eight NAIA "B" cuts at the Slug Shootout at the UCSC Aquatics Center.
The Coyotes swept both relays and won four individual events - placing third overall with 451.5 points, behind host UC-Santa Cruz (570) and Biola (511.5).
Andrew Clifford,
Aziz Jaouhar and
Nic Carrier all recorded a pair of NAIA automatic marks on the day, with both
Jake Klassen and
Ryan Barnard each recording two NAIA bonus cuts.
Clifford opened his season with wins in the 100-yard butterfly (50.83) and 100-yard breaststroke (58.71) - both Top-10 marks in program history - while helping both the 200-yard medley (1:37.95) and 400-yard freestyle (3:12.60) relay teams earn wins.
Jaouhar made a big splash in his C of I debut, hitting the "A" cut with a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.47), winning the 100-yard backstroke (54.62) - logging a "B" mark, while hitting an auto-mark in the 100-yard freestyle (48.35) on the lead leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Carrier took second in both the 1-meter (224.25 points) and 3-meter (204.25) diving events, meeting the national qualifying mark in both events.
Klassen won the 200-yard IM (1:59.48) and took third in the 100-yard butterfly (53.79) - recording bonus cuts in both events; while Barnard took fourth in both the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.34) and the 200-IM (2:01.92), hitting the "B" mark in both races.
Ian Clifford earned a pair of second-place efforts - hitting an auto mark in the 500-yard freestyle (4:52.04), while posting a stellar time of 10:02.75 in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
Three others met NAIA "B" standards -
Mitch Hawley, with a second-place finish in the 200-yard IM (2:00.60);
Graham Williams, with a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:00.35); and
Hayden Krause, with a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.53).
The Yotes close out the road trip tomorrow in Oakland at the Bay Area Invitational.
