FRESNO- Competing in their first meet since November, UC Santa Cruz Swimming and Dive made a big splash in their first meet of the new year.
The Banana Slugs won both duals against PCSC rival Fresno Pacific. The women won 231-27 while the men surged late to win 149-135.

The women won all 15 events, led by Gabrielle Nguyen's three wins in the 200 IM (2:18.34), 100 Breaststroke (1:10.15) and 200 Breaststroke (2:31.34).
Other standouts included Maddy Gruender, who won both the 200 Free (1:58.18) and 200 Back (2:08.72). Honour Dufresne swept the 500 and 1000 Free in 5:27.56 and 11:13.39. Kirsten Boyle swept the 100 and 200 Fly in 1:00.29 and 2:14.20. Coralie Norenberg was another double winner, sweeping the 50 and 100 Free sprints in 25.02 and 54.50.
"The women took care of business, sweeping the meet and swimming fast in doing so," said head coach Matt Crawford. "Quincy Timmerman was also a huge standout, taking second in both the 100 Breaststroke and 200 IM in what was her best dual meet in the past two seasons."

For the men, Massimo Reyna led the scoring with wins in the 200 and 500 Free, hitting the wall in 1:43.11 and 4:50.89. First-Year Michael Fusinati won the 1000 Free in 10:03.49. Jude Robinson won the 200 Fly in 1:56.98, Karsten Hsiao won the 200 Breaststroke in 2:12.46, and Luke Scanlon won the 200 IM in 1:57.86. The meet came down to the dives, with Joel Akey and Ford Meyer going 1-2 in both dive events to give the extra points needed.

"The men came in ready to battle the top team in the conference," said Crawford. "Michael Fusinati got the ball rolling, snatching a surprise win in the 1000 yard freestyle. From there, Massimo won the most anticipated race of the day in the 200 freestyle in a head-to-head with the other top 200 swimmers in the conference."
"Kyle Reitan, a first-year, deserves a shout out as well for giving Jan Bialecki, the best swimmer in the conference, all he wanted in the 50 freestyle, losing by only .03 in a massive lifetime best in the event."
UC Santa Cruz head to Hayward next weekend to take on Cal State East Bay and Simon Fraser.