By Ron Smith
February 5, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Swimming participated in the UC Santa Barbara Invitational on Friday and Saturday as a preparation for the upcoming Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships. The Warriors were competing with three teams from Division I (Pacific, Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara) and two from Division III (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Pomona-Pitzer).

"We used this meet as a pre-conference tune up to see what last minute changes need to be made before the conference championships," said Westmont's head coach Jill Lin. "It was encouraging to see them swim really well.

"We had a great meet. It's always a fun weekend to race at this invitational. The energy is high and everyone is out there to suit up and race. The Warriors rose up in some abnormal events and it was impressive to see some major time improvements."

The faster competition helped produce several lifetime-best finishes and one program record. Senior Ella Chaisson set a new school record in the 200 yard backstroke, finishing the race in a time of 2:07.79. That mark edged out Morgan Bienias' previous record by 0.1 seconds. Chaisson finished fourth in the race, which was Westmont's best finish of the day.
 
"Olivia Garrison completed her first 200 yard backstroke and finished with a lifetime-best," noted Lin. Her time of 2:12.48 earned her a sixth-place finish.
 
Hannah DeSoto also beat her lifetime-best mark in the 200 yard backstroke, finishing in a time of 2:20.20. DeSoto also had a lifetime-fastest race in the 100 yard backstroke (1:04.51) as did Emma Robinson (1:09.85).
 
Katlyn McCurtain, Grace McAnear, and DeSoto swam lifetime-best races in the 200 yard individual medley, finishing with times of 2:14:84, 2:20.30 and 2:27.80 respectively.
 
Robison improved her lifetime-best time in the 1650 yard freestyle with a time of 18:50.75.
 
"Along the way, Emma had lifetime-best split times in the 500 and 1000 yard freestyle," pointed out Lin. Robinson's 500 time was 5:37.28 and her 1000 time was 11:22.30.
 
Swimming lifetime-best races in the 500 yard freestyle were Kelly Neill and Tiffany Ball who posted times of 5:35.07 and 5:57.91 respectively.
 
In the 200 yard breaststroke, McAnear (1:12.87), Garrison (1:13.75) and Ball (1:24.81) all improved their lifetime fastest times.
 
"Allison McDougal rounded out the lifetime best times with a four-second drop in the 200 yard butterfly," reported Lin. McDougal's time was 2:24.93.


McCurtain and Willow Pezone, "Tested out the 100 yard butterfly and did amazing," said Lin. McCurtain's time was 1:00.33 while Pezone finished with a time of 1:02.74.
 
Lin was also pleased with the "monster" performance of Leighton Bell in the 200 yard freestyle. Bell, who is gradually recovering from an injury, had a time of 2:06.75, which was a season-best time. Also recording season best times in the event were Daisy Marquardt (1:58.39), Neill (2:07.36) and Ashley Ream (2:11.82).
 
Two Warrior swimmers posted season-best times in the 50 yard freestyle – Pezone (25.34) and Brogan Braaten (26.85).
 
"I'm really proud of all of them and the effort they put out this weekend and all season," expressed Lin. "We are ready to finish out at PCSC in 10 days.
 
The PCSC Championships, which will be held at the East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium, will be held February 14-17.