The Aquatic Mariners had an excellent Friday in Livermore. They traveled to Las Positas to compete in the Hawk Invitational. Nick Cruse had three top ten finishes, Dominique Duro had two of her own while the Mariners also put a relay team in the top ten. For the entire meet the Mariners finished seventh amongst 13 total teams.
Freshman swimmer Nick Cruse had a very successful day with two victories and another top ten finish. He opened the day with a sizable victory in the Men's 400 Yard Individual Medley. His final time was 4:19.46, more than six seconds ahead of the second place finisher and just three seconds behind the all-time Hawk Invitational Meet record. He followed that up with a sixth place finish in the Men's 200 Yard Free with a time of 1:49.34, just a second off the podium. For his final triumph of the day, Cruse took first place in the 200 Yard Fly with a time of 1:58.87, the only competitor in the field to post a sub two minutes time.
Cruse, along with Arel Shoua, Ferguson Cherry and Thomas Brawley competed as a part of the Men's 200 Yard Medley Relay where the Mariners placed 14th of 23 teams with a time of 1:53.13. The same quartet took ninth in the Men's 400 Yard Free Relay with a time of 3:38.59.
In the Women's competition, Dominque Duro was the star Mariner on the afternoon. She opened her slate with a third place finish in the Women's 100 Yard Back. Her time of 1:05.43 was two seconds off the leader in a field of 23 competitors. Teammates Skylar Merwin-Rios and Dakota Chamberlain also competed and finished 11th and 19th respectively.
Duro took part in the Women's 50 Yard Free, where she finished in 26.74 seconds, which was good for 11th place amongst 68 competitors. That race also featured Merwin-Rios and Chamberlain as well. Duro's last race saw her take third in the Women's 100 Yard IM with a time of 1:07.75. Merwin Rios took seventh in the same race with a time of 1:12.77.
Arel Shoua had an excellent showing in the Men's 50 Yard free, taking 12th with a time of 23.03 seconds, Scott Swanson and Ferguson Cherry also competed and finished with a times of 25.62 and 28.33 seconds. Shoua also took 11th in the Men's 100 Yard Breast, finishing with a time of 1:05.32 in the 34 competitor field. Swanson swam an excellent race in the Men's 100 Yard IM, taking 13th in 1:07.46.
The Mariners' Women's Team took sixth place with 109 points, while the Men took eighth with 114 points. The team's combined score of 223 placed them seventh in the entire competition, ahead of teams from Sacramento City, College of San Mateo and Chabot College amongst others.
The Mariners next meet is the seventh of April at Chabot College in Hayward.