MALIBU, Calif. -- In spite of a very stressful week for the Waves, the women posted 22 personal records Saturday, at the Seventh Annual Malibu Distance Invitational and at the Malibu Sprint and Diving Invitational.

 

On Wednesday, the meet was in jeopardy of being cancelled due to the Malibu wildfires. The Pepperdine women’s swimming and diving team was unable to use the pool until Thursday. Coach Nick Rodionoff believed that this meet was just what they needed to clear their heads and refocus on the season. The Waves have recorded 80 personal record in just two meets.

 

“We were good today. We weren’t sharp, but I didn’t think we would be after the emotional week we had,” said head coach Rodionoff. “The women turned in some good performances today.”

 

The invitational is set up as a non-scoring meet for the swimmers and divers to make their qualifying time for the championship meets. According to Rodionoff, the athletes are really competing against themselves to better their performances.

 

High-point winners for Pepperdine were junior Haley Wilson (Carpenteria, Calif. / Santa Barbara) for the sprint meet, junior Amanda Pond (Wayland, Mass. /Wayland HS) for diving and freshman Franny Cyphers (Lake Oswego, Ore.) in the distance events.

 

Senior Ali McLeod (Austin, Texas / Cedar Park HS) posted the top mark of the day in the 50 butterfly (26:34) and the 50 backstroke (27.9). Freshman Kayleen Hicks (Chico, Calif. / Chico HS) recorded the fasted time of the meet in the 50 breaststroke (31.16) and sophomore Dani Kimmel was the first finisher in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.8) followed by Hicks in second (1:07.6).Pepperdine’s “A” team finished first in the 400 medley relay at the distance invitational (4:01.07).

 

“We’ve been working really hard and it seems to be paying off,” said senior Loriann Mark (Malibu, Calif. / Malibu HS). “It’s only our second meet and several swimmers have already posted personal bests.

 

Seven teams participated in Saturday’s meet. Among them, LMU, Cal Baptist, La Verne, Soka University, Cal Lutheran and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.