MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine’s women’s swimming and diving team stands atop the Pacific Coast Swimming Championships’ leaderboard with 215 points following the first night of competition at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif. 

Pepperdine leads the field of 14 teams by 70 points. UC San Diego is second with 145 points and UC Santa Cruz is right behind the Tritons with 142 points.

The Waves scored 159 of their points off the 3-meter springboard as Amanda Pond (Wayland, Mass./Wayland HS), sophomores Tiffany Martz (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Shannon Hedman (Fair Oaks, Calif./Loretto HS) and freshman Leslie Wade (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) captured the first through fourth places.

 

Pond won the first PCSC title of her career with 427.15 points, becoming Pepperdine’s first conference diving champion since Deanna Fenno won the 1992 3-meter crown.

 

Martz was a distant second with 368.10 points and was closely followed by Hedman and Wade for runner-up honors as they posted scores of 363.50 and 360.85, respectively.

 

Freshman Kristin Scribner (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake HS) and senior Jessica Brakulis (Munster, Ind./Munster HS) also finished among the top-eight finalists with their sixth and eighth-place scores of 357.75 and 280.30.

 

The performances of the Pepperdine divers ensured that the Waves’ night would end on a high note after its first two relays experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

 

The Waves began day one of the four-day meet by registering a record breaking time of 1:46.35 in the 200 medley relay, but their on-deck celebrations quickly dissolved after the 800 freestyle relay was disqualified.

 

Pepperdine finished second overall in the 200 medley relay thanks to strong efforts from freshman Rachel Cotè (Honolulu, Hawai’i/Punahou School), junior Dani Kimmel (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake HS), sophomore Francesca Cyphers (Lake Oswego, Ore./St. Mary's Academy) and senior Haley Wilson (Carpinteria, Calif. /Santa Barbara HS), who combined to take down the old record of 1:46.68 set in 2007 by Kimmel, Wilson, Ali McLeod and Amy Nightingale.

 

UC San Diego won the 200 medley relay title in 1:45.29 and defending champion Loyola Marymount was victorious in the 800 free relay with a meet record time of 7:25.07.

 

Day two prelims of the PCSC Championships begin Thursday at 9:30 a.m. The finals commence at 5:30 p.m.