MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine heads to Long Beach, Calif., and the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool Wednesday for the four-day Pacific Coast Swimming and Diving Championships. The Waves lost last year’s crown to Loyola Marymount by 46 points but may have enough talent on this year’s roster to close the gap and win the program’s first team title. 

Freshmen Rachel Cote (Honolulu, Hawai’i/Punahou HS) and Madison Krall (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo Centennial HS) are two of the most notable difference makers on this year’s squad and should claim high scores in the backstroke, distance freestyle and relays.

Cote has already cracked the Waves’ all-time top-five performance list in both backstroke races during her first season with season-best marks of 56.87 and 2:05.22. She also led off a 200 medley relay that posted the school’s second fastest time at 1:47.03 and a 400 medley relay that clocked the program’s third fastest time at 3:53.84.

 

Cote’s backstroke times are good enough to win her both individual titles as long as she is able to duplicate or improve on her season bests.

 

The meet’s rules don’t allow a swimmer to compete in more than three official events, which is a real hindrance for the Waves when it comes to Krall – the team’s No. 1 swimmer in the 500 free, mile, 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley.  

 

Krall’s best times in the distance free events (5:04.91; 17:42.86) are among the five-fastest in program history as was her 400 IM time of 4:35.21. Her top 200 fly time was clocked at 2:09.45.

 

Krall is currently listed on the official psych sheets in all four events, but she’ll have to compete in one as an exhibition swimmer if the coaching staff keeps her in all four. Furthermore complicating her situation is that the 100 fly and 400 IM both take place Friday while the mile and 200 fly are part of Saturday’s slate.

 

In addition to their fearsome freshmen, the Waves also bring back a wealth of experience to the PCSCs with sophomores Francesca Cyphers (Lake Oswego, Ore./St. Mary's Academy) and Kayleen Hicks (Chico, Calif./Chico HS), juniors Ali Chester (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly HS) and Dani Kimmel (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake HS), and seniors Michelle Fadley (Malibu, Calif./Northwood HS) and Haley Wilson (Carpinteria, Calif./Santa Barbara HS) all part of this year’s championship roster.

 

Each member of this highly talented group scored at last year’s meet and should plan to do so again.

 

Hicks and Kimmel have exchanged school records in the 100 breast this season with Hicks topping off at 1:05.17 and Kimmel a fraction better at 1:05.16.

 

Cyphers was Pepperdine’s top competitor in the 100 fly at 58.48 and was fifth in this event at last year’s met with a 58.05.

 

Chester gives the Waves a solid one-two punch in the backstroke with Cote. Last year, Chester was sixth in the 100 back at 57.19 and third in the 200 back at 1:00.39. She also can help in the 100 free as her season best time of 54.72 would have placed her among the top 16 at the 2008 meet.

 

Wilson should continue to be a work horse for the Waves on their relays. She competed on all five of them a year ago and all placed among the top four. Fadley swam anchor on the 800 free relay that placed fourth in 7:53.27 and took sixth in the 400 IM with a time of 4:37.79.

 

After relays, Pepperdine should earn its second and third largest point totals off the 1- and 3-meter springboards. Only seven of the participating 14 schools sponsor diving, and Pepperdine is taking advantage of the situation by bringing all six of their competitors to score big points.

 

Sophomores Shannon Hedman (Fair Oaks, Calif./Loretto HS) and Tiffany Martz (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Amanda Pond (Wayland, Mass./Wayland HS) all posted top 10 scores off the springboards last year with Pond scoring as many as 363.35 points off the 3-meter.

 

Martz led the Waves on 1-meter at the 2008 meet with a fifth-place tally of 318.15 points.

 

ADMISSION CHARGES: Ticket prices for the 2009 PCSC Championships include a one-day pass for $7, a three-day (Thursday through Saturday) pass for $18 and a four-day pass for $20. Individual session tickets also will be sold at $3 for prelims and $6 for finals ($3 for Wednesday evening’s session only). Heat sheets will be included with each 3- or 4-day all-sessions pass. Heat sheets for daily or individual session tickets will be $1 per session.

 

WEB SITE: The PCSC web site can be found at http://www.pacificswimanddive.org/. The goal is to post the psych sheets and results on a daily basis once the meet has begun.