The California State University, East Bay women’s swim team finished up their season last weekend as they flew to the NCAA National Championships at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

The Pioneers finished with 101 points, good for 15th place out of the 39 teams that competed at Nationals, an improvement from last year’s finish of 21st place.

“I was pleased with our overall performance at Nationals. To be top-15 in the country required a full team effort, and that is what we had,” said Head Coach Ben Loorz. “Every person on the squad, including those back home who helped with our preparation, played a role.”

For East Bay, a fourth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay highlighted the meet. The relay consisted of senior Caitlin DeNise, freshman Madison Hauanio and juniors Alyssa Tenney and Brittany Rojo, who together under the bright lights of Nationals broke a school record with a time of 3:23:26.

“I was ecstatic about our 400 freestyle relay,” said Loorz. “We were seeded 10th in that event, but the team of [DeNise], [Haunanio], [Tenney], and [Rojo] really swam outside themselves.  They swam courageously in the morning, earning a berth in the “A” final, and came back at night to go even faster.  Their poise under pressure was very evident in the 400 free relay.”

When it came to expectations for the National Championships, Loorz and his team all had different objectives, but in the end they all had the same goal.

“As far as expectations, it was a very disparate group,” said Loorz. “We had veterans like [DeNise] who were seeded in the top-8, and others who barely made the meet and were attending for the first time.  But when we had our goal meeting with the NCAA group, [DeNise] summed it up best by stating that she “just wanted to go faster.”  That really set the tone for the group, as it let everyone believe that faster was possible.  For myself, I had an unstated goal of reaching 100 points; we ended up with 101, so I guess that worked out.”

The Pioneers kicked off Nationals with breaking three schools records, that included a tenth overall finish in the 200-yard medley relay with DeNise, Hauanio, sophomore Makila Schuck and junior Kamaehu Alboro.

When looking back at the season that has gone by, Loorz could not help but be pleased with the way his team has swam all season with a 5-5 meet record and a second place, out of 11 teams, finish in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships.

“We broke 12, of 15 possible, individual school records this year, and four, of five possible, relay records,” said Loorz. “We had our highest-ever finish at NCAAs, two All-American relays, and our first individual All-American since our return to DII.  So by the numbers we had a phenomenal year. Highlights included reaching our goals at the PCSC Conference Championship, as well as our relays at NCAA Nationals.”

With all the success that Loorz has had in the last few years at East Bay, he still wants to continue to get better each season and has not met his goal that he has had since coming to Hayward.

“I came in to East Bay with the intent to build a program that would be in the top 10 nationally; we’re not there yet, but are showing progress toward that goal,” said Loorz.