MALIBU, Calif. – This morning, Tay Thomas represented Pepperdine in its first ever official NCAA sponsored open water competition, as she competed in the MPSF Open Water Championships in Long Beach, Calif. This was also her first open water competition where she swam alongside other competitors. The event is put on by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and is a 5K race.
 
"Today is a historic day for NCAA swimming as it was the first ever NCAA sanctioned open water championship hosted by the MPSF," assistant coach Dan Marella said. "We're really proud and happy that Tay was able to represent us in this historic event. It's been really fun to watch her navigate these totally different distances, having her longest race in the pool being 200 yards and given that she did a 12-mile race in the summer. It's really fun and I'm really proud of how she's been handling everything. Tay did a great job representing us against some pretty formidable opponents such as some power five schools in Utah and some familiar faces in UC Santa Barbara, Pacific and Loyola Marymount. I think Tay is setting up the future of Pepperdine swimming as she is setting the precedent for being someone who can be successful in the pool and the open water. It's really exciting to see where open water swimming is going to go at the NCAA level."
 
Thomas finished with a time 1:07:40 and placed 31st out of the 42 women competing in the event. She held a pace of 21:47 over the 3.1-mile swim.
 
Thomas will look to continue doing more open water swims. She is ready to help the Waves in their first year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.