Gutierrez hits 'A' standard, relays qualify for nationals

It was September when Master's aquatics head coach Byron Davis first approached Xavier Gutierrez with an idea that made Gutierrez nervous.

The Mustang freshman had primarily stuck to freestyle events as an accomplished high school swimmer. But Davis, in his second year as Master's head coach, saw another possibility.

"I saw his butterfly and thought with a little work he could be very good at it," Davis said.

Davis' foresight led to Gutierrez's big night Friday at the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships in Monterrey Park, California.

Gutierrez hit the NAIA "A" standard in the 100-yard butterfly at East Los Angeles College, making him TMU's first men's swimmer to hit an "A" standard. He'll add the event to a busy itinerary at NAIA nationals in Knoxville, Tennessee, next month.

Gutierrez was also part of the Mustangs' 200-freestyle and 200-medley relays that qualified for nationals, and he has hit the "B" cut in the 50 and 100 freestyle races.

The 100 butterfly wasn't part of his original plan.  

"I was nervous at first," Gutierrez said. "This was my first time taking the butterfly seriously at the collegiate level, but it's what the team kind of needed so I just went with the flow."

Gutierrez finished in 52.85 seconds during 100 fly prelims Friday before going .4 seconds faster in the final later in the day.

"Xavier is swimming very competitively on the second half of his races and catching people," Davis said. "He is a pure racer."

Elsewhere, TMU's men's and women's 400-medley relays both hit NAIA qualifying marks Friday night.

The women finished in 4 minutes, 24.92 seconds, an improvement of 24 seconds from their previous best. The men finished in 3:51.86, dropping nine seconds off their best. In both cases, Davis made strategic changes to the teams. 

For the women, Selma Matiashowski was swapped into the foursome because she was in the midst of her "best meet ever," Davis said. And for the men, Gutierrez swam the leadoff backstroke leg with Brandon Watson completing the butterfly portion. 

"Xavier could get us out faster," Davis said, "and Brandon's fly was good enough to keep Mazen (Hussein)  in the hunt for the cut."

Watson also continued a theme of Master's swimmers throwing down season-best times at conference finals. The Mustang freshman swam what Davis called a "smart race" in the 400 individual medley.

Freshman Raymie Matiashowski narrowly missed the NAIA "B" cut in the 200 freestyle on Friday, one day after he just missed the "B" standard in the 500 free in what was another strong race.