Pepperdine University
PCSC Championships
Pepperdine Wins Three More PCSC Titles, Sets 200-Medley Relay Record on Day Two
4/15/2021 12:55:00 PM | Women's Swim/Dive
Day two also saw the Waves take a 1,051-1,024 lead over second-place Biola with one day left in the conference meet.
Like it had done on the previous day, Pepperdine kicked off the meet with an emphatic relay win. Williams (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS), Morton (Golden, Colo./Lakewood HS), Haley Bergthold (Fairfax, Va./Woodson HS) and Jenna Sanchez (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley HS) teamed up to set a new school record in the 200 medley relay with a 1:45.00 — one-hundredth of a second faster than the previous record set last year.
"After yesterday, I think we had a lot of momentum going into this morning, and I think Jasmine really set the tone there to get us out in the lead," Pepperdine head coach Ellie Monobe said. "Emily has also been having a phenomenal meet and she set us up. Haley has had so much speed throughout, and Jenna just did her thing out there in the relay."
While Williams and Morton were on the previous school-record-holding team, Pepperdine was tasked with replacing two of the legs from last year's team.
"I'm thrilled," Monobe said. "This relay shows our team has a lot of talent — especially after losing half of the relay last year. It's also very exciting that everyone on this relay will return next year."
Two events later, Morton won her second individual conference title of the year in the 400 IM. The sophomore, who set the school record in the event and placed second at the PCSC Championships last season, flipped the script this year: Amidst a strong first heat filled with returners from the 2020 PCSCs, Morton swam the fastest breaststroke and freestyle split in the field to pull away with the win.Â
"She's a very intelligent swimmer," Monobe said of Morton. "She is very self-aware in races and that's why she's so coachable. I think that's what makes her an extremely dangerous competitor."
Williams rounded out Pepperdine's PCSC wins with a wire-to-wire victory in the 100-yard backstroke. The sophomore, who placed third in the event last year, held off a strong field and edged out the second-place finisher by 17-hundredths of a second. Her 56.74 was not only a collegiate-best, but also the third-fastest time in Pepperdine program history.
"This whole year, Jasmine and I have been focusing on a lot of the details in training and trying to put it all together in meets," Monobe said. "She's definitely a dependable athlete in crunch time. She thrives under the pressure, which is a lot of why she was so successful today."
Pepperdine's 800-yard free relay team of Olivia Kayye (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill HS), Paige Tattersall (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS), Morton and Sammie Slater (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS) duked it out with Biola for a thrilling finale. The lead changed several times throughout the back half of the race, yet the Eagles touched the wall one-hundredth of a second before the Waves. Pepperdine's time of 7:45.34 was its best of the season.
Before diving scores were calculated, Pepperdine trailed Biola by 17 points. Then the Waves placed all four divers in the top 10 of the 1-meter dive in order to give the Waves the lead. Paulina Holmberg (Apple Valley, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) led the Waves in fourth; Bri Cannon (Katy, Texas./Katy HS), Olivia Stotz (Western Spring, Ill./Lyons Township HS) and Anna Johnson (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme HS) placed sixth, eighth and tenth, respectively.
Tomorrow, the Waves will close out the final day of the PCSC Championships, which starts at 9 a.m. Pepperdine is chasing its first PCSC team title in program history; the Waves have been the runners-up four times, including the past two conference meets.
"There's a lot of excitement," Monobe said. "Anything can happen tomorrow. We don't have diving tomorrow, and diving was a huge piece of this puzzle. They were phenomenal today; they crushed it. But we haven't really talked about points: We've talked about swimming for one other like we have all year, and being so grateful for the opportunity to compete."
"We'd love to walk home with some hardware but either way, this is what college swimming is about. Win, lose or draw, I think it's going to be a phenomenal day tomorrow."
THE RUNDOWN
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Bergthold made a quick turnaround from her 200 medley relay leg to finish seventh in the 100-yard butterfly with a 57.99 This time is fifth in Pepperdine history.
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Kayye also placed seventh in the 400 IM with a 4:40.55 — a 12-second improvement on the season.
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Four Waves finished in the top 10 of the 200-yard freestyle, starting with Slater in second with a 1:52.50, followed by Tattersall in fourth, Mckenzie Kelly (San Diego, Calif./La Jolla Country Day School) in seventh and Paige Brackett (Folsom, Calif./Granite Bay HS) in eighth.
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Sanchez was Pepperdine's top finisher in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:04.91, which is the fifth-fastest time in program history. Lexi Osleger (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford HS) finished close behind in fifth with a 1:06.65, moving her into 10th on the Waves' top-10 leaderboard.
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Freshmen Ellie Hendren (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista HS) and Tay Thomas (Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park HS) went under one-minute in the 100-yard backstroke for the first time in their collegiate careers. Hendren finished in sixth with a 59.26; whereas Thomas won her heat and finished seventh overall with a 59.48.Â
NEXT UP: The final day of the PCSC Championships kicks off with the 200-yard backstroke tomorrow at 9 a.m. Per PCSC rules, spectators will not be permitted at the Woollett Aquatics Center, but the meet will be livestreamed on YouTube.
LIVE RESULTS: All results, team standings, schedules and updates can be found at the PCSC's championship page.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesSwimDive on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to PepperdineWaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.Â
Players Mentioned
