MONTEREY PARK– UC Santa Cruz Swim and Dive finished with a flourish at the 2024 Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships at East L.A. College. The men finished in second place with 705.5 points. The women placed fourth with 860 points.

Maddy Gruender, who led the Banana Slugs all week, earned the Conference title in the 200 Backstroke. Gruender, who set the school record in the preliminaries, finished in a tie for first in a time of 2:03.08. The time was another NCAA 'B' cut for Gruender, who all but punched her ticket to next month's national championships in North Carolina.

The Banana Slugs also put themselves in a good position for another relay to make the postseason. The 400 Freestyle quartet of Gruender, Coralie Norenberg, Pia Davila, and Tereza Shea placed fourth with a time of 3:28.68. That was almost two seconds faster than the school record set this past November in the same pool, and well below the NCAA 'B' cut standard of 3:29.49. It was the third time at the Championship that UC Santa Cruz set a school record in a relay.

Shea and Norenberg also finished 2-3 in the 100 Freestyle. Shea had a time of 51.62 and Norenberg touched the wall 0.05 seconds later. Kirsten Boyle was 7th in the 200 Breaststroke in 2:25.68.

For the men, Karsten Hsiao won his first-ever conference championship, winning the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:02.03. The Banana Slugs collected a lot of points in the 200 Fly with three swimmers in the top five. Luke Scanlon was second with a time of 1:51.52, Jude Robinson was fourth in 1:52.67, and J.J. Stoen placed fifth in 1:52.92. The Banana Slugs also had three top-ten swimmers in the 100 Free: Massimo Reyna (5th 45.99),  Bryson Schmid (7th 46.15), and Charlie Hussain (9th 46.54). Senior Judah Good earned fourth place in the 1650 Free in 16:23.10.