Despite several swimmers having to scratch from events due to illness or injury, #12 Westmont Women’s Swimming made the most of their opportunity in the La Verne Invitational this weekend. The women’s competition consisted of 14 teams – mostly from NCAA Division II and III schools – with Westmont finishing 12th.
“As a coach, of course, I’m frustrated when my team isn’t feeling well and we can’t compete to the level I think we are capable of,” acknowledged Westmont’s head coach Jill Jones Lin. This team works hard and it’s unfortunate that they weren’t able to all be at their best this weekend. Despite all of that, they came together and overall had some impressive and gutsy swims.
“The freshmen have been showing up strong this meet,” noted Jones Lin. “Emma Bustamante swam a lifetime best time in the 500 yard freestyle (5:24.59) and broke the two minute barrier in the 200 yard freestyle (1:58.56). Daisy Marquardt achieved provisional cuts in multiple events.”
In the 200 yard individual medley Marquardt finished with a time of 2:16.25 while posting a time of 4:47.77 in the 400 yard individual medley.
Emma Diehl earned provisional times of 25.32 in the 50 yard freestyle and 1:00.69 in the 100 yard butterfly before giving the 200 yard butterfly a try.
“Emma Diehl swam the 200 yard butterfly for the second time ever, achieved the provisional cut and got a new school record,” said Jones Lin. “It’s been a tough event for her to mentally finish, but she really pulled it together. She made it back to finals and improved her time even more (2:17.15), which I think puts her in a good position to qualify for NAIA nationals.”
“Senior Rian Lewandowski achieved her first provisional swim of the season in the 100 yard butterfly (1:01.14) and sophomore Ella Chaisson lowered her 100 yard breaststroke time (1:09.77) to achieve the provisional cut,” reported Jones Lin.
“Olivia Garrison had a great 1650 yard freestyle, swimming a season best of 18:15.30, which puts her in the top six in the NAIA. She went out strong and was able to hold on throughout,” said Jones Lin. “Lauren Healy swam a season best as well (19:41.67).
“Our relays did really well,” said Jones Lin. “It is fun to be able to field an A and a B team for all our relays. The freshmen (Diehl, Leighton Bell, Bustamante and McKenzie Rion) had a great 200 yard freestyle relay (1:41.71).
“Abby Rickard had a great split in the 400 medley relay, so I took a gamble on the 200 yard medley relay by putting Ella Chaisson in backstroke and Abby as breaststroke. It paid off and both our A and B relays had great splits.”
The A relay team of Chaisson, Richard, Bustamante and Diehl posted a time of 1:52.85 while Rion, Lewandowski, Marquardt and Bell finished in a time of 1:56.85.
“The 800 yard freestyle relay was a really good event for us,” offered Jones Lin. “Both teams put up a good fight and it was great to see that we are capable of fielding two teams for that event.”
Bustamante, Chaisson, Garrison and Marquardt recorded a time of 8:01.13 while Lauren Healy, Bell, Diehl and Rion finished in 8:12.72.
“The last event of the meet was the 400 yard freestyle relay,” said Jones Lin. “Our two lead-off swimmers – Emma Bustamante (54.54) and Leighton (55.49) both achieved the provisional standard and set the teams off to a great start. The remaining members of the relays swam season best splits for season best times for the relays.”
Bustamante, Garrison, Marquardt and Lewandowski finished the relay in a time of 3:40.51. Bell, Healy, Rion and Diehl posted a time of 3:45.36.
The Warriors’ next event will be on Saturday, December 3 when they host Azusa Pacific in a dual meet.
Ron Smith is the sports information director at Westmont College.
email: sports@newspress.com
