ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Pepperdine women's swim and dive team won a PCSC championship and set a school record in the 200 free relay to finish the second day in first place at the PCSC Championships on the campus of Dixie State University.
 
Pepperdine's A team of Alexandra Browne (Arlington, Va./Washington-Liberty HS), McKenzie Kelly (San Diego, Calif./La Jolla Country Day School/California Baptist), Emma Purdy (Truckee, Calif./Truckee HS) and Jenna Sanchez (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley HS) narrowly eclipsed the previous school record for the 200 free relay of 1:34.43 by recording a 1:34.24 time.
 
Halfway through the PCSC Championships, Pepperdine has a total of 731 points. Cal State East Bay is second with 495 points.
 
MEET RECAP
 
The Waves found success in individual events as well, as Purdy took second in the 50 free with a time of 23.66. This improved her standing on the all-time, top-10 list, moving up to third.
 
Over the course of the rest of the day, Pepperdine earned third place in the 500 free final after Lindsay Hemming (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte HS) finished with a 5:00.10 time. This placed her second on the Pepperdine all-time list for this event. Emily Morton (Golden, Colo./Lakewood HS) recorded a third-place finish in the 200 IM after a 2:07.93 time.
 
The Waves claimed more places on the all-time, top-10 list after several standout individual performances. Browne now stands in fourth place in the 50 free after a 23.71 showing which earned her a fourth-place finish, while Kara Coughlin (Evergreen, Colo./Evergreen HS) took fourth in the 200 IM and claimed the eighth spot all-time after a time of 2:08.50. Lexie Deitemeyer (Golden, Colo./Golden HS) was close behind Coughlin, securing 10^th-place all-time after a 2:09.68 time in the same event.
 
In the 1-meter diving, Pepperdine went 3-4-5 once again as Paulina Holmberg (Apple Valley, Minn/Academy of Holy Angels), Lexie Martin (Keller, Texas/Keller HS) and Gianna May (Arcadia, Calif./Arcadia HS) garnered scores of 257.30, 242.10 and 227.25, respectively. Bri Cannon (Katy, Texas/Katy HS) and Anna Johnson (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme HS) also placed in the finals, earning sixth and eighth after scores of 224.45 and 212.70, respectively.
 
QUOTABLE
 
Head coach Ellie Monobe said: "Day two went better than anticipated. This is traditionally one of our toughest days based on events and the swimmers didn't disappoint. After the divers' big push in the 1-meter, the swimmers went to work. Our freshmen stole the show tonight with second and third-place individual finishes from Purdy and Hemming in the 50 free and 500 free, respectively.
 
"Our school record and win in the 200 free was a bonus to cap off a solid day. I am proud of our women's grit and looking forward to how the rest of the meet unfolds."
 
Diving coach Monique Demaisip said: "All five of our divers put up another round of solid, back-to-back performances today. Our team has been stronger on the 1-meter this season, so I came into today excited for these ladies to show everyone what they were capable of. It's pretty rare to have a whole roster of divers qualify for a top-eight final, and we accomplished this feat in both events. Lexie Martin and Paulina Holmberg both snagged a place in the top three on 3-meter and then 1-meter, respectively. Especially after yesterday, I knew it was just a matter of our divers putting two consistent lists together today. I am so honored to have been brought onto this program; the team has trusted me and my training plan, and I'm so proud of how far we've come this season.
 
"Now that our championship season has wrapped up for diving, I'm excited to take Paulina and Lexie to NCAA Zones in March. I'm looking forward to where we can go from here. This is just the beginning for the Waves and it's definitely exciting!"
 
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will be back in action tomorrow, February 18 for the third of four days at the PCSC Championships. The day begins with the 100 fly at 8:30 a.m. PT.
 
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