MALIBU, Calif. – Sophomore Tiffany Martz won Pepperdine’s second conference diving title in as many days by scoring 392.00 points off the 1-meter springboard Thursday night at the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference Championships in Long Beach, Calif.
Martz (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) followed senior Amanda Pond (Wayland, Mass./Wayland HS) to the gold-medal stand as they became the first set of Pepperdine teammates to each win a PCSC diving title at the same meet. Pond won the 3-meter crown on Wednesday with 427.15 points.
Pond’s victory last night represented Pepperdine’s first conference diving championship since Deanna Fenno won the 1992 3-meter title. Prior to Fenno, the Waves’ lone PCSC diving champion was Bridget Kenehan, who swept the springboard competition in 1988 and 1989.
Pond’s attempt to match Kenehan’s accomplishment was 21.50 points short of first place as she finished as the runner-up to Martz, who, ironically, was last night’s silver medalist on 3-meter. Pond scored 370.50 points and was followed by freshman Kristin Scribner (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake HS) in third place.
Freshman Leslie Wade (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School), sophomore Shannon Hedman (Fair Oaks, Calif./Loretto HS) and senior Jessica Brakulis (Munster, Ind./Munster HS) placed fifth, eighth and 10th with scores of 354.55, 291.05 and 260.60.
Between the 159 points scored on 3-meter last night and the 151 posted tonight, the Pepperedine divers combined for 310 of the team’s 509 points, which currently places it second behind UC San Diego with 528 points.
Defending champion Loyola Marymount is lurking close behind in third with 482 points.
At the other end of the facility, Pepperdine received a boost in the relay department as its 200 freestyle relay team posted the second-fastest mark in program history with a third-place time of 1:36.89. Sophomore Kayleen Hicks (Chico, Calif./Chico HS) led off with a 50 free split of 24.60 and was followed by senior Haley Wilson (Carpinteria, Calif./Santa Barbara HS), junior Dani Kimmel (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake HS) and freshman Rachel Cotè (Honolulu, Hawai’i/Punahou School).
Their time was second only to the school record of 1:36.52, which was recorded in 1999 by Cathy Carone, Amy Lehman, Adrienne Lennard and Andreea Trufasu.
Earlier in the evening, Kimmel, Cotè and Hicks combined to score 62 points in the 50 freestyle with their fifth, sixth and 14th-place times of 24.11, 24.18 and 24.66. Kimmel’s and Cotè’s marks both served as season bests.
Wilson also was active early in the night’s events as she placed 18th in the 200 individual medley with a mark of 2:11.21. Freshman Joanne Perry (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) contributed a handful of points as well in this event with her season-best and 22nd-place mark of 2:12.74.
Thursday’s championship finals started with freshman Madison Krall (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo Centennial) posting the fifth fastest time of the night and second fastest in school history in the 500 freestyle as she completed the course with a season-best effort of 5:01.22.
Jennifer Antimarino's school record of 4:59.40 in this race was set in 1993 and is the longest standing of all the program's records.
Krall’s time in finals was more than six seconds faster than her prelims mark of 5:07.32, which relegated her to the consolation heat. Her previous best in this event was a 5:04.91 and was recorded in November at the Nike Cup.
Day three prelims of the PCSC Championships begin Friday at 9:30 a.m. The finals commence at 5:30 p.m.
