MALIBU — Westmont Women’s Swimming competed in its second meet of the year Saturday and continued to put up some impressive times.
Nine schools competed in the Rodionoff Invitational in the Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on Pepperdine’s scenic campus in Malibu. All nine are members of the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference, but only Westmont and The Master’s are part of the NAIA.
In head-to-head scoring, the Warriors edged out the Mustangs 329-314.
Freshman Ella Chaisson set three team records while Olivia Garrison set one. Both athletes beat their own records, which they established on Oct. 1 and 2 in the tri-meet at the Westmont pool.
Chaisson finished the 200-yard individual medley in a record time of 2:11.03. She finished first among NAIA schools and second overall. Chaisson’s time was within the NAIA “B” standard qualifying time of 2:16.81.
Rian Lewandowski placed second with a time of 2:21.81
In the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races, Chaisson won with times of 1:09:81 and 2:30.45, both of which earned “B” standard qualification and lowered the times in her already held school records.
Garrison lowered her team record time in the 200-yard butterfly while finishing first with a time of 2:20.69. Morgan Bienias finished second in a time of 2:21.44 that also beat the previous record.
Bienias also had first-place finishes in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Her time of 10:58.18 in the 1,000 was third fastest among all divisions.
Bienias led three Warriors to a sweep of the podium in the 500-yard free with a time of 5:26.46, which earned her a “B” standard qualification. Garrison finished second with a time of 2:05.56, and Kassy Gregory placed third with a time of 2:07.56.
The Warriors also swept the top three spots in the 200 yard freestyle. Garrison finished first with a time of 2:02.56 that was under the “B” standard qualification mark. Bridget Hoth was second in a time of 2:05.56, and Gregory notched third in a time of 2:07.56
Chaisson had a first-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:40.77, which was 0.11 second off her team record. Bienias finished second in the event with a time of 4:54.63. Both times beat the “B” qualification standard.
Rian Lewandowski won both the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke with times of 1:01.72 and 1:02.82 respectively. Rachel Peden notched first in the 200-yard backstroke. Hoth claimed first in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 25.59, just one one-hundredth off of the “B” qualifying standard.
The Warriors took first in three of the relays. The team of Bienias, Chaisson, Lewandowski and Hoth won both the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays with times of 1:55.56 and 4:16.13.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Hoth, Garrison, Lewandowski and Chaisson claimed first with a time of 3:49.78.
Westmont will return to competition Oct. 29 and 30 when the Warriors host the Nanooks of Alaska Fairbanks at Westmont’s campus pool.
Ron Smith is the sports information director at Westmont College.
email: dmason@newspress.com
