The CSU East Bay women’s swim team opened their 2012-2013 season in dominating fashion, as they defeated Mills College of Oakland 135-98 in the season opener for the Pioneers.

This was the third consecutive year the Pioneers were able to defeat the Mills Cyclones.

The 14-event meet saw the Pioneer women win 13 events as the women started the day with top finishes of first and second place in the first five events.

“There were some pleasant surprises,” CSUEB head coach Ben Loorz said.

The women’s swim team is coming off a season in which 14 school records were broken and were sharp from the beginning.

A medley relay started things off with sophomore Alyssa Tenney, junior Caitlin DeNise, freshman  Makila Schuck and senior Jenel Lopez clocking in a team first place time of 1:53:31.

The next first place finish came in the 1000-yard freestyle. Freshman Rachel Shimizu of the Pioneers finished the 40 pool length swim in 11:06:61.

Lopez followed up with a first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:58:02. Tenney and freshman Courtney Schwiesow also pulled in first place finishes of their own in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breast stroke.

The one loss was a heated 200-yard butterfly as only one swimmer from each team was scheduled to swim the event, which marked for an interesting finish going into the last 100 yards.

While both women were neck and neck, Shimizu came up short as she lost to Emily Gott of Mills who finished with a time of 2:23:51.

After the close loss, the Pioneer women finished strong as they finished top two rest of the meet.

There was a battle for second place in the 200-yard backstroke as Shimizu and Cyclone’s Jessica Lix of Mills were dead even going into the 100-yard mark.

While it looked like Lix was going to pull off the second place finish going into the last 15 yards, Shimizu was able to pull ahead at the last second and secure a top two finish for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers’ freshman Hannah Cutt’s finished the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:15:04 which is eight seconds faster than her seedtime.

“We are in two different divisions and they run a completely different swim program than we do.” Loorz said when discussing the outcome. “We have to lower the records to compete on a national level.”

The Pioneers now prepare for the Bay Area invitational meet in two weeks.