Sports briefs: UCD’s Shellem speeds to a pair of record swims

MONTEREY PARK — Junior Samantha Shellem set school and meet records in the 500-yard freestyle, and led off the UC Davis 200 free relay squad that posted another school mark as the Aggie women stayed in first place after the second day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation swimming championships at East L.A. College on Thursday.

Shellem finished the 500 free in four minutes, 45.60 seconds in breaking her own benchmark by three seconds. She also surpassed the B qualifying standard for the NCAA Championships.

That race came just after the 200 free relay, which saw Shellem, Katie Edwards, Haley Porter and Hilary Hunt take third place in 1:32.02 — 0.87 seconds faster than the four-year-old UCD mark of 1:33.29. Furthermore, Shellem’s leadoff split of 23.49 moved her into the school’s all-time 50 free leaderboard.

The 500 free was a big race for the Aggies in the team standings as freshman Marissa Brown finished second (4:50.65) — moving up to second in UCD history — and Bridget Bugbee placed fifth (4:53.54). The threesome of Shellem, Brown and Bugbee picked up 51 points in that race, while the Aggies added another seven points from Grace Benefield and Maya Sprinsock in the consolation final.

In action at the U.S. Air Force Academy, UCD’s Lucy Lafranchise scored 247.85 in her preliminary round to advance to the final of the 1-meter diving competition. Lafranchise placed eighth in the event at 199.15 while fellow freshman Audrey DeNeffe improved from 205.10 in the prelim to 227.65 in the consolation.

Between the two sites, the Aggies finished the day in first place with 212 points, just ahead of UC Santa Barbara (204) and Hawaii (191).

UCD water polo

Senior Carmen Eggert was named the Big West Conference Player of the Week in a Wednesday announcement, marking the fifth time she has won the award in her Aggie career.

Eggert led UCD in goals (10), steals (seven), drawn exclusions (six) and field blocks (four) at the Davis Challenge tournament last weekend, helping the Aggies to four straight wins, including two over Top 20 foes. She scored hat tricks in each end of Saturday’s doubleheader and added a pair of goals and heavy defensive contributions (four steals, two field blocks) in a win over Pacific.

Eggert, who prepped at Marin Catholic in San Rafael, is a two-time honorable mention All-American.

Local tennis

The Davis Tennis Club will host a drop-in program on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month from 9 a.m. to noon at the Davis Community Courts.

DTC official Linda Deos says “any member of the public is welcome to come out and we will match them up with someone for them to play with.”

The club also plans on hosting quarterly tennis socials.

For more information, visit http://davistennisclub.org.

Youth basketball

The Davis Hoops Wildcats, a youth basketball program for players from Davis, Dixon, Woodland and the surrounding areas, will host tryouts in the coming weeks for boys and girls in fourth grade through high school.

The tryouts begin Sunday for younger players, with workouts for high school-age athletes starting in March.

Davis Hoops teams practice one to two times per week and participate in tournaments in the Sacramento region.

For times, locations and all other tryout information, visit www.davishoops.com. For more information, contact Karen Ward at karen@davishoops.com or 530-219-8873.

Bicycling Hall of Fame

Nominations are being taken now for the U.S Bicycling Hall of Fame’s class of 2013.

Submissions are due before Friday, March 1 and can be sent by downloading the nomination form at www.usbhof.org/nomination-process.

The four official induction categories for 2013 are modern road and track competitor (1971 to 2008), veteran road and track competitor (1970 and prior), off-road competitor (mountain bike, BMX, Cyclocross) and contributor to the sport of cycling.

Additional information about the process can be found on the website.

Batting cages open

The city-operated batting cages at Playfields Park in South Davis will reopen for the season Saturday, weather permitting. The cages will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Mondays through Fridays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. The cages also are available for private rental.

For more information, contact Lori Conrad at 530-753-7731 or lconrad@cityofdavis.org, or visit www.citydavis.org.

Springdarts swimming

Registration is now open for the Davis Aquadarts’ Springdarts program, a spring session for young swimmers in kindergarten through high school that begins next month.

Swimmers have a choice of two sessions: the full quarter (March 11 through June 7) or the eight-week version (April 15 through June 7).

Registration forms and information are available at www.aquadarts.org under Seasonal Programs or by emailing aquadartsregistrar@gmail.com.