UCSB Men, Nevada Women Take Lead at Swim Meet

The UC Santa Barbara men’s team and the Nevada women’s team lead after the first day of competition at the Big West Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday at Belmont Plaza Pool.

Santa Barbara’s Jason Lezak, a former Irvine High standout who was the Big West swimmer of the year the last two years, defended his title in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 19.96 seconds. Lezak also swam the anchor leg of the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:20.34). Lezak will swim the 100 free and the 100 butterfly.

Former El Toro swimmer Ian Pyka helped Cal Poly San Luis Obispo move into second place with a victory in the 200 individual medley. His time of 1:51.11 was more than a second faster than second-place Brian Basye of Pacific. Cal Poly has 108.5 points and UC Irvine is in third with 70.5 points.

Winning four of five events, Nevada leads the women’s field with 257 points, followed by UC Santa Barbara (146), Pacific (145), San Luis Obispo (98), Irvine (94) and New Mexico State (79).

The meet concludes Saturday.

In nonconference men’s basketball:

Chapman 69, La Sierra 63--Chapman scored 44 points in the second half to overtake La Sierra. Nate Strange had 13 points, two assists and four steals to lead the Panthers (11-10). Gil Gonzales and Anthony Brown each had 11 points.