Swim/Dive Heads To PCSC Championships

Wednesday, February 12

Los Angeles, Calif.

All Day

Pepperdine University

PCSC Championships

Paige Tattersall

Photo by: Jeff Golden

2/10/2020 12:28:00 PM | Women's Swim/Dive

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's swimming and diving team heads to East Los Angeles this Wednesday through Saturday to compete in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships.

Competition will begin on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. with men's and women's 1-meter diving, followed by the 1,000 freestyle, the 200-medley relay, and the 800 free relay.

Prelims for Thursday through Saturday are set to start at 9:30 a.m. with finals following at 5 p.m. each night.

MEET: PCSC Championships | Feb 12-15 | Monterey Park, Calif. (East Los Angeles College)

EVENT INFO: The PCSC Championships are the final meet of the season and will determine the conference champion after four days of competition. Additionally, the Waves will be looking to achieve qualifying times for the CSCAA National Collegiate Invitational which will be held March 14-16 in Cleveland, Ohio.

LAST YEAR AT PCSC CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Waves took second place with 1198 points, just behind Cal State East Bay in first with 1306 points. This was one of the Waves' best years, following second places finishes in 1989 and 2008 as well. Pepperdine has a solid tradition in the competition, taking top-five finishes in seven of the last 10 years. The Waves also had two members qualify and compete at the CSCAA National Collegiate Invitational last season.

COVERAGE: Available updates and more will be posted on Twitter at @WavesSwimDive. A tournament central page is available at pacificswimanddive.org/2020-championships. A recap will be posted on PepperdineWaves.com after each day of competition.

THE COMPETITION: The competition includes PCSC members: Arizona Christian, Azusa Pacific, Biola, Cal State East Bay, Concordia (Irvine), Fresno Pacific, Loyola Marymount, Simpson, Soka, Alaska Fairbanks, The Master's University, UC Santa Cruz, Westmont and the Waves.

SEASON IN REVIEW: The Waves had two PCSC athlete of the week honors during the 2019-20 season, both by freshman Emily Morton.

Morton earned the award twice this season for the weeks of October 15th and January 22nd. In October she was honored for her swims at the Malibu Invite. She swam the 200 breaststroke going a 2:25.47, good for 10th in school history, the 200 IM with a time of 2:09.24, good for sixth all-time in school history and the 200 backstroke where she placed second in a time of 2:04.66.

In January she was awarded for her performance at the WCC Cup, where she swept all three of her events. On the first day, she won the 200 IM with a time of 2:08.95 and then came back on the second day to win the 400 IM with a 4:35.55 and the 200 backstroke with a 2:07.56.

WHERE THE WAVES RANK IN PCSC:

Sixteen of the Waves will enter the PCSC championship with a ranking within the top 10 for their season-best times. Freshman Mackenzie Hamlett is seated in the top 10 in four different events, including 3^rd in the 1000 free, 5^th in the 500 free, 6^th in the 200 free and 4^th in the mile. Nohea Lileikis is seated 6^th in the 500 freestyle and 8^th in the 200 freestyle. Senior Khloe McCarthy is 10^th in the 500 and 5^th in the 400 IM.

Morton will enter the championship meet as the top qualifier in the 400 IM with a 4:29.25, 6^th in the 200 IM and 2^nd in the 200 backstroke. Jasmine Williams is seated 7^th in the 50 freestyle and 5^th in the 100 backstroke. Amy Griffin is right behind Williams at 8^th in the 50 freestyle, 4^th in the 100 freestyle and 10^th in the 100 backstroke. Julianna Birlin is 8^th in the 200 IM and 10^th in the 100 freestyle.

In the breaststroke events, Anna Riekhof is 7^th in the 100 breast and 8^th in the 200, while Olivia Kayye is 7^th in the 200 breast. Caroline Eckel is the top seed for the Waves in the 100 and 200 backstroke, at 4^th and 5^th respectively.

Other top ten qualifiers are Haley Bergthold at 6^th in the 100 fly, Sammie Slater at 5^th in the 200 free, Trinity Ishikawa in 9^th in the 100 free and Caroline Anderson in 4^th in the 200 fly.

For the diving events, Paulina Holmberg leads the Waves in the 1-meter at 6^th with a score of 231.75, followed by Olivia Stotz who is 9^th with a score of 212.25. In the 3-meter event, Stotz leads the Waves in 6^th with a 210.65 followed by Holmberg in 8^th with a 198.3.

The Waves relays are also all ranked within the top eight in the conference. The relays are led by the 200 medley relay which is currently ranked 2^nd with a time of 1:45.95. The Waves will look to better these times and move up in rank throughout the meet.

SOCIAL HUB: The Pepperdine swimming and diving team is on Twitter @WavesSwimDive ... Fans can like the Waves on Facebook by searching for WavesSwimDive ... The team is also on Instagram and goes by the handle: @WaveSwimDive ... Follow or like the team for all the latest news.