By the time Westmont Women’s Swimming wrapped up competition in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships, the Warriors had cemented their name above the rest of their NAIA counterparts.
The Warriors finished eighth overall with 486 points, coming in ahead of several of their most-frequent rivals.
“Scoring the most points out of any NAIA team is huge,” began Westmont head coach Jill Jones Lin. “Beating Fresno Pacific again, too, was a big deal. This time we were able to knockdown Alaska-Fairbanks, who we’ve been going head-to-head with all season long.
“To come out here and put it all together for conference was so exciting.”
PRELIMINARIES
Morgan Bienias made the day’s first headline when she competed in Saturday’s inaugural event, the 200 yard backstroke. After coming in with a previous season-best time of 2:18.04, the senior cut nearly nine seconds off to finish in 2:09.11. Bienias’ time was the 11th-best mark, which earned her a spot in the finals on Saturday night.
Trimming a near-10 seconds off was especially impressive for Bienias, who has only been on a regular swim routine for a little over a month. The former NAIA All-American spent the fall semester on an abroad trip to Uganda, before returning to the Warriors and to the pool after the New Year.
When asked how difficult the short ramp-up time has been, Bienias acknowledged, “It’s been pretty tough. I’ve never taken more than two weeks off before, so taking four months off has been really hard. Specifically the second half of races have been super tough. At this point, I have a lot of speed, but I don’t have a lot of stamina.
“I didn’t want this to be my last race ever, so I gave it all I had and am super happy with it.”
In the 100 yard freestyle Bailey Lemmon broke yet another program record, this time by a blink of an eye. With the 18th-best time in prelims, Lemmon earned herself a spot in the finals, and set a new program record with a time of 53.38. Less than a week ago, Lemmon posted the previous record time of 53.39.
Also competing in the 100 yard free was Gaby Rego, a senior competing in her final race as a Westmont Warrior. Rego went out with a season-best time of 1:02.23, and was greeted with tear-filled hugs from her teammates and coach upon exit.
“I’m feeling very emotionally overwhelmed,” said Rego. “After 16 years of swimming, getting up on the blocks for the last time is really emotional. Seeing my teammates on both ends of the pool behind me was super special.
“I’ve been swimming for Jill since I was 15 years old, so to be able to have her watch me swim in my final race, you just can’t really describe the emotions.”
When asked what she would miss the most, Rego said, “The environment that comes with being on the team. I can keep swimming as long as I want, but it’s just never going to be the same. I’m never going to be at ELAC with my teammates ever again, so just getting to be here with them now is special.”
In the 200 yard breaststroke the Warriors made a pair of headlines, with both Ella Chaisson and Daisy Marquardt earning a place in the finals.
First, Marquardt saw spectacular improvement, cutting more than nine seconds off her previous time. The freshman posted the 17th-best time during prelims with a new lifetime-best time of 2:30.81.
Chaisson was the next Warrior to dive in, this time posting the fourth-fastest time of prelims, earning her a place in the championship heat on Saturday night.
During prelims Chaisson posted a time of 2:25.32, which was a new season-best mark.
Emma Bustamante achieved an NAIA B-Standard time in the 200 yard butterfly, completing the event in a season-best time of 2:19.27. Bustamante not only cut 3.19 seconds off her entry-mark, but the freshman also grabbed the penultimate spot in the 200 fly finals.
Also competing in the 200 fly was senior Emma Leathers, who swam the final race of her Westmont career. Upon completion, an emotional Leathers was met with several embraces and words of gratitude.
“I thought I had already processed the fact that this was my last meet,” shared Leathers, “but then it gets here and you realize you’re not ready for it to be done. I’ve loved swimming, and I’m always going to be a swimmer.”
When asked what she’ll miss most, Leathers said, “Getting to swim with my friends. Even the people who aren’t on my team, there’s a couple of girls who’ve swam the same events as me for years. Those are things you don’t think about until you get there, but I’m going to miss them, too.”
Capping off the morning session was an outstanding performance by Olivia Garrison, who swam a season-best time of 17:55.95 in the 1650 yard freestyle. At the end of three heats, Garrison’s time was the ninth-fastest of the meet.
Freshman Lauren Healy also swam the 1650, and finished with a season-best time of 19:24.84.
SENIOR CELEBRATION
The evening session began with a celebration of each school’s senior class, with the Warriors honoring Bienias, Leathers, Lemmon, Rian Lewandowski, and Rego. This senior class was a particularly special class for Jill Jones Lin, as these women are the first four-year class in program history.
“Don’t remind me,” joked an emotional head coach when asked about her departing class. “It’s surreal, and honestly I’m in so much denial. It’s weird having the hope of still going to nationals, and because of that, not knowing whose last race was today.
“Regardless, they have all given so much to this program. It’s amazing what they’ve done, and they’ve really set the tone for who we want to be as a program. I could not be prouder.”
Individually, the coach was proud to applaud each and everyone one of her seniors.
“Each one of them gave so much,” began Jones Lin. “Emma Leathers committed herself to this team, and without expecting anything in return. She was here, fully present, for everyone. It’s just who she is.
“Then Bailey, being able to stick with it. From having surgery, and not being in the pool with hopes of one day getting in. The fact that she swam all her races is a miracle, and she swam her heart out the whole week.
“Morgan, putting so much work in over three years, and then going abroad, only to come back and get after it again. To be able to come and swim without being in top shape is one of the hardest things to do. She did it with so much fierceness and aggression, and it was extremely inspiring.
“Rian has been someone I could always count on. For relays, for any event, she just always does what I ask her to do. She is always 100% in and giving her everything.
“Then Gaby Rego, she’s battled through injuries and battled through times where she’s rarely felt 100%. With that, she gave absolutely everything today, and was always willing to do whatever it takes
“These are all amazing people.”
FINALS
Bienias opened up finals with a 200 back time of 2:09.88, which was right on par with her time from this morning.
Next to compete for the Warriors was Lemmon, who continued to build a reputation for breaking new records. After swimming a program-best 53.38 in the morning, the senior followed it up with a 53.17 in the evening, once again updating her place at the top of the leaderboard.
Things only got better for the Warriors when Chaisson competed in the finals of the 200 yard breaststroke. After the Warriors talked all week about getting onto the podium, Chaisson was the woman with the honor of making it happen.
With a program-record time of 2:22.53, Chaisson took home third place and a bronze medal from the championship heat.
“I’m super excited,” beamed an ecstatic Chaisson. “This is my first time being top-three at conference, and it’s really exciting because all of the girls next to me are so fantastic. It’s so much to be in the same field as them.
“Usually I zone out during my races, but this entire meet, I’ve heard my teammates screaming for me. I swear, they were the only reason I was able to finish third today.”
Diehl was the third Warrior to break a program record on Saturday evening, this time doing so in the 200 yard butterfly. After being frustrated with herself this morning, Diehl rebounded to post a 2:16.19 in the evening, setting a new program record.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” admitted Diehl. “I’ve had some tears, because I was so nervous after the first one. Going into the second one, I was prepared to do better, telling myself I couldn’t feel worse than I did in the first one.
“This time, I was ready to go.”
Bustamante was the next Warrior to accomplish a personal-best mark, swimming a lifetime-best 2:19.24 in the 200 fly.
“The plan wasn’t to go fast,” shared a blushing Bustamante. “Jill and I had discussed, since I’m swimming the 200 free later, that I wasn’t going to go all out on this. Instead, I ended up pacing this way better than this morning. I was able to conserve a bit of energy for the end, and then still finish strong.”
During the final heat of the 400 yard freestyle relay, the Warriors continued to rewrite records when Diehl, Garrison, Chaisson, and Lemmon posted a program-record time of 3:36.37.
The team was still not finished, however.
During the concluding time trials of the evening Westmont’s five seniors elected to all swim the 50 yard breaststroke. Ahead of the event, Lewandowski announced that she intended to break the program record in the event.
With a time of 31.38, the senior did just that.
AFTER
Following the race’s conclusion, Jones Lin did her best to cipher through all the good news and give her finishing thoughts on the team’s performance.
“Ella making the podium was a big deal,” reflected the coach. “This morning, she swam probably the worst race of her meet. She had gone faster last weekend, and it was off her best time. Being able to come back, make finals, and then out-touch someone to get third was huge. She set a school record, a lifetime-best, and it was pretty incredible to see.
“Then Bailey in the 100 freestyle, which is an event that is so hard to make finals in. Being able to come back and swim faster is just mind-blowing. It was incredible to see many of them swim faster in finals. Coming back and swimming faster during the last session of a meet is an incredible feat.
“Then our freshmen, Emma (Bustamante) and Emma (Diehl) out there in the 200 fly. That was a big deal, scoring those few extra points is huge and Emma Diehl doing it at a school-record pace was pretty exciting to see.”
When asked what she will miss most about having this group of women together, Jones Lin said, “How much fun they had. It was such a fun meet for us, and we had so much energy tonight, which is the rarest thing.
“To be so hyped up at the end of the meet says a lot. It was an absolute blast and it’s just so much to be around them.”
Next week Westmont will find out how many Warriors officially qualified for the National Championships. Then, on March 1, Jones Lin and her qualifiers will begin competition in the NAIA National Championships in Columbus, Georgia.
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
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