Senior captures lone win
February 12, 2015
The CSUEB women’s swimming team participate in an event at Pioneer Pool in Hayward on senior day.
As the only senior on the Pioneer roster Alyssa Tenney captured the lone victory of the meet for Cal State East Bay’s senior day on Jan. 30 at Pioneer Pool against the San Jose Spartans for the final meet of the year.
Tenney finished first in the 200-yard individual medley event with a time of 2:10.28 as she just edged out Spartan junior Allison Davis who finished with a time of 2:10.55. They were down to the final leg of the event before Tenney managed to pull ahead and finish just over two hundredths of a second ahead of second place finisher Davis.
“I tried to speed it up during the backstroke because usually that is when I kind of cruise through it,” Tenney said. “My legs were burning but I was like you can do it, pull it off.”
She scored the only first place finish of the day after they lost their final meet of the year, 128-96, to the San Jose State Spartans (9-1 overall). The Pioneers finished the season 6-6 overall after they lost their final meet before the conference championships begin Feb. 18.
“In the four years that she’s been here and in the two years that she has been our captain, she’s been the glue that’s kept this team together and kept this team moving forward,” CSUEB Head Coach Ben Loorz said. “It is a very exciting moment in our season as we finish up dual meets and turn our sights toward conference championships.”
The Pioneers managed to capture four third place finishes against the tough NCAA Division I Spartans. Sophomore Mariam Lowe placed in third with a time of 59.95 in the 100-yard backstroke event, just over one second behind the winner San Jose State University freshman Morgan McCormick (58.16).
CSUEB junior Alyssa Littlefield took third place in two events, the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.84 and the 100-yard freestyle with a final time of 54.48.
Fellow Pioneer, junior Arolyn Basham, finished in third place in the 200-yard butterfly event with a final time of 2:15.96.
The Pioneers will participate in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships from Feb. 18 to Feb. 21 at the regional aquatics center in La Mirada. Azusa Pacific, Fresno Pacific, Simon Fraser, Alaska-Fairbanks, UC San Diego, and Texas at Permian-Basin are all NCAA Division II members that will compete at the conference championships.
“I’m not really going to worry about too much,” Tenney said. “I’m just going to go, have fun and hopefully swim fast.”
