Pepperdine University
San Diego State
Waves Endure Lightning Delays, Hail in Dual Meet Loss to San Diego State
1/29/2021 3:02:00 PM | Women's Swim/Dive
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Complete with two lightning delays, persistent rain and eventually hail, the Waves' first road meet of the season culminated in a 140-111 dual meet loss to San Diego State on Friday.
"With all of the adversity — having the lightning strike, the meet delay, the rain come as we started firing up again, then trying to run through a meet with fewer breaks — I thought we did really well," Pepperdine head coach Ellie Monobe said. "We're definitely learning some more things throughout training and starting to see the team apply them in racing."Â
Despite having a 30-minute delay and a scratched 1000-yard freestyle event to open the meet, Pepperdine picked up six wins before a second lightning strike prematurely ended the day.
But before the second lightning strike, Pepperdine's 400 free relay team of Sammie Slater (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS), Ellie Hendren (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista HS), Paige Brackett (Folsom, Calif./Granite Bay HS)and anchor Jenna Sanchez (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley HS) closed the meet on a high note.
Before Sanchez dove off the block, the Waves trailed San Diego State's team by a body length. But Sanchez — who already won the 50 and 100 free earlier that day — had enough in the tank to chase down and touch the wall less than five-tenths of a second ahead of San Diego State.
"Overall, I thought the 400 free relay team was very good," Monobe said. "Jenna [Sanchez] anchoring that relay and chasing down San Diego State was the cherry on top. It finished the meet on a good note."
In addition, Emily Morton (Golden, Colo./Lakewood HS) picked up two more wins on the year. The sophomore won the 200 back by nearly four seconds, then narrowly missed her collegiate best in 200 IM by eight-tenths of a second.
"She just went out and got after it," Monobe said of Morton's 200 IM win. "She knew she had to put herself in a good spot, and that's exactly what she did."
Slater rounded out the Waves' individual wins by taking first in the 500 free with a 5:11.32, dropping nearly four seconds off of her time from the last time she swam the event.
Over on the diving side, Paulina Holmberg (Apple Valley, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) led the Waves with a fifth-place finish in the 1-meter dive. Freshman Bri Cannon (Katy, Texas./Katy HS) made her collegiate debut by finishing close behind Holmberg in sixth.
"The divers did an amazing job getting out there and doing their dives," Pepperdine diving coach Kaeden Cogbill said. "Given the rain and cold, the Waves pushed through, and we are happy with the 1-meter performance that we got out of the meet before the weather delay."
The 3-meter dive was called off after the second lightning delay of the afternoon.
NEXT UP: The Waves are scheduled to swim at Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Feb. 20. Start time and broadcasting info for the meet have yet to be determined.
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Players Mentioned
