LOS ANGELES – Three members of the No. 22-ranked and 4-seed San Diego State water polo team, Sammi Byers, Julianne Stark and Mimi Stoupas, each scored three times to lead the Aztecs to a 14-13 win over 5-seed California Baptist in a quarterfinal round game of the 2025 Golden Coast Conference (GCC) on Friday afternoon at Burns Aquatic Center.

In addition to the hat tricks from Byers, Stark and Stoupas, SDSU got individual goals from Amanda Chambers, Megan Holcomb, Rose Kanemy, Sofia Righetti, and Claudia Valdes.

In the cage, Tiaare Ahovelo (9-9) played the first half, made five saves against eight goals allowed and assisted on a career-high three goals in earning the win. Ava Ratajczak, in the second 16 minutes, surrendered five goals, totaled three saves and had two steals.

With the victory, the Aztecs move to 15-13 on the year and have secured back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.

As the 4-seed, San Diego State moves to 4-4 in the event and 6-0 in quarterfinal games in the GCC Tournament. In addition, the Scarlet and Black are 4-0 against CBU in the event, which includes a 3-0 mark in the quarterfinal games.

The Lancers (12-15) secured the game’s initial goal at the 7:05 mark and just under two minutes later, with 5:07 on the clock, Byers tied it with Ahovelo’s first assist. It took 20 seconds for CBU to get the lead back. Then at 3:24, Byers set up Stoupas on a powerplay to even the score, 2-2. California Baptist moved back in front, 3-2, with 3:03 to play in the period, but back-to-back goals scored by the Aztecs made it 4-3 SDSU. The first strike came off a Chambers shot with Kanemy being credited with the assist at 1:35 and then, 24 seconds later, it was Righetti, assisted by Valdes, which gave SDSU its first lead, 4-3.

CBU tied it at 4-4 with 59 seconds to go and then went ahead on a powerplay goal with 13 seconds to play. But, with just two ticks on the clock, Byers scored her second of the day, assisted by Holcomb, to send the game to the second quarter tied 5-5.

At 7:05 of the second, the opening goal of the period gave Byers a hat trick, her second in as many games and fifth of the campaign, with Kanemy picking up her second assist. Kanemy then got into the goal scoring column with her first strike of the game, a powerplay score at 5:43 to make it 7-5 in favor of the Aztecs. Valdes was credited with her second assist of the game on the score. The Lancers trimmed the SDSU advantage to 7-6 with 4:10 to play until the half, but Stoupas, 47 seconds later got the goal back, assisted by Righetti, and Stark made it a three-goal lead, 9-6, on her first of the day, at the 2:57 mark, with Ahovelo getting her second assist of the game. Then 30 seconds after Stark scored, she and Ahovelo did it again to make it 10-6. CBU took a timeout and proceeded to score with 1:40 to go to make it 10-7, which was the score at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, the Aztecs put California Baptist in a powerplay, and the Lancers took advantage, scoring 35 seconds in, to make it a two-goal game, but on a Lucy Bullock assist at 7:11, Valdes put the margin at three goals again, 11-8. CBU made it 11-9 with a powerplay goal at the 4:22 mark. Holcomb then pushed the lead back to three, 12-9, and Byers picked up the assist with 2:23 on the clock, but the Lancers responded with 1:48 to go to make it 12-10, the score which the teams took into the final period.

It took nearly three minutes to get any scoring in the fourth quarter. California Baptist scored at 5:11 to make it 12-11, and 15 seconds later, on a Righetti assist, Stoupas got her hat trick to make it 13-11. It only took 16 seconds for the Lancers to score and then another 16 for Stark to get her hat trick for a 14-12 score with 4:24 to play.

CBU made it a one-goal game, 14-13 with a tally at 3:53, but neither team was able to score again and SDSU advanced to the semifinal round to play 1-seed Loyola Marymount on Saturday, April 26, at 4 p.m. (PT).

California Baptist: 5-2-3-3 – 13
San Diego State: 5-5-2-2 – 14

California Baptist Goals: Byers (3), Stark (3), Stoupas (3), Chambers, Holcomb, Kanemy, Righetti, Valdes
San Diego State Goals: Almendariz (5), Kahahawai (2), Moreno (2), Ruffer (2), Beringer, Carter,

California Baptist Saves: Urry (9)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (5), Ratajczak (3)

DES MOINES — Running just off their season-best pace, the Central College women’s track & field team placed eighth in the 4×400-meter relay preliminaries, earning a spot in Saturday’s finals.

The quartet of Lizzy Van Utrecht (sophomore, Ottumwa, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont HS), Alivia Roerdink (sophomore, Tiffin, Ohio, Hopewell-Loudon HS), Emily McMartin (junior, Pella) and Ava Parkins (sophomore, Monmouth, Ill., Burlington Notre Dame [Iowa] HS) clocked in at 3 minutes, 51.62 seconds.

“It was super exciting,” coach Brandon Sturman said. “It’s nice to see us step up in that environment, to not only qualify but win our heat. It’ll be a good experience to double back and try to PR on Saturday.

           

Gunner Meyer (junior, Fairbank, Wapsie Valley HS) ran a season-best time of 14.21 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles prelims, taking 15th place. He was second amongst four Division III athletes in a field of 29 total athletes.

           

“It’s a great opportunity to run at the Drake Relays in an open event when it’s a combined University and College Division,” Sturman said. “He was against good competition and ran a really clean race.”

           

Mary Gustason (junior, Marion, Linn-Mar HS), Parkins, Olivia Bohlen (junior, Belle Plaine) and McMartin finished .3 seconds slow of the school record in the 4×200-meter relay, placing 17th in 1:42.91.

           

“Our goal was to break the school record,” Sturman said. “IT’s not something we run often so we don’t practice it a lot. They ran well and they will all be back next year to try and get the school record.”

           

In addition to the women’s 4×400-meter relay team running in Saturday’s final, Central will also have the men’s distance medley relay and men’s shuttle hurdle relay in the morning.

 

Women’s results

4×100 relay (prelims) – 16. Mary Gustason/Ava Parkins/Danika Arnold/Emily McMartin, 48.25

4×200 relay – 17. Mary Gustason/Ava Parkins/Olivia Bohlen/Emily McMartin, 1:42.91

4×400 relay (prelims) – 7. Lizzy Van Utrecht/Alivia Roerdink/Emily McMartin/Ava Parkins, 3:51.62

Sprint medley relay – 8. Danika Arnold/Olivia Bohlen/Lizzy Van Utrecht/Alivia Roerdink, 4:12.35

 

Men’s results

400 meters – 18. Kaleb Brand, 48.71

4×100 relay (prelims) – DQ. Connor Miklos/Jackson Tavegia/Owen Tomko/Gunner Meyer

4×200 relay – 26. Connor Miklos/Brian art/Owen Tomko/Jackson Tavegia, 1:31.96

4×400 relay (prelims) – 21. Brian Hart/Alex Volden/Jrake Van Hemert/Kaleb Brand, 3:19.30

Sprint medley relay – DNF. Brian Hart/Connor Miklos/Kaleb Brand/Jack Every

110-meter hurdles (prelims) – 15. Gunner Meyer, 14.21

Triple jump – 9. Kale Purcell, 46-8.25

 

Mason Siebenhaar smoked the competition in the 5000-meter run. His time of 14:52.69 easily won the event by over 13 seconds, as he was the only runner to break 15 minutes. Bucknell took home the top four positions. 

Sophomore Michael Chernova won the pole vault with a clearance of 14-5.25. Teammate Lucas Williams finished second with the same clearance. 

The Bison head to the Red Flash Open hosted by Saint Francis tomorrow.