By Ron Smith
February 13, 2025
 
(MONTEBELLO, Calif.) Day number two of the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships saw more solid performances by Westmont swimmers.
 
In the morning prelims, Emma Bustamante got things started off by competing in the 100 yard butterfly and earning a place in the "B" final. She recorded a time of 58.53 to claim 15th place. In the evening finals, Bustamante swam a time of 59.11, finishing 16th and claiming All-PCSC honorable mention honors.
 
"It is so fun to see her progress in that event," said Westmont's head coach Jill Lin. "When she came to us, she was a 1:25 butterflier. Now she does 58 seconds, which is awesome. That is a testament to her work ethic. She is such a hard worker and has made the two flies her own events."
 
Next up was the grueling 400 yard individual medley with seven Warriors competing in the event. Daisy Marquardt posted the Warriors' fastest preliminary time off 4:49.05 to claim 24th place.
 
"The 400 IM was good," asserted Jones. "They swam really well in the prelims. Daisy snuck into the finals where she did much better, moving up a few spots."
 
In the "C" final, Marquardt dropped nearly five seconds from her time, touching the wall in 4:44.35 and claiming 21st place.
 
The last prelim on Thursday morning was the 200 yard freestyle which attracted a field of 85 competitors – 12 of them Westmont swimmers. Three of those earned the opportunity to compete in the finals. Kate Spraul posted a time of 1:53.59 to finish seventh and claim a berth in the "A" Final. Olivia Garrison finished 19th with a time of 1:56.16 and Willow Pezone came in 23rd with a time of 1:56.59. Both Garrison and Pezone grabbed spots in the "C" final.
 
"We had a really good day with a lot of lifetime bests in the 200 free," noted Lin. "Grace McAnear (1:57.94) went under two minutes for the first time. McKenzie Rion (1:58.64) had an awesome race. Olivia, Willow and Kate made it back to the finals. I don't think we have ever had three in the finals.
 
"In the "A" final, Kate got fifth place but she thought she could have been in the top three if she was in a center lane. We felt that too. If she had been able to see the field a little better, she could have touched through a little harder. Still, it was a good time and a program record and she made the national "B" cut."
 
Spraul, who swam a time of 1:52.71, is the first Warrior to post an NCAA Division II qualifying time. Her mark does not guarantee her an entry in the national championship, but it does make it a possibility depending on the times posted by other DII athletes over the next week and one-half.
 
Garrison finished in 20th place, improving her time in the finals to 1:55.99. Pezone finished in 23rd with a time of 1:57.33.
 
Two relay events took place in the evening session. The first was the 200 yard freestyle relay in which Pezone, Spraul, Bustamante and Marquardt placed eighth in a time of 1:38.07
 
"The 200 freestyle relay is our toughest test," said Lin. "We just don't have enough sprinting capacity to do it well. Still, they were in the fight. It was nice to have Willow back and be able to lead off the relay. Having Daisy anchor was exciting.
 
The final event of the day turned out to be a disappointment as the "A" team was disqualified due to a false start.
 
"Disqualifying in the relay was a bummer," acknowledged Lin, "but we had some good splits. Abby Rickard went 1:06 (in the breaststroke leg) for the first time, which is insane. Kate had a 51 split (freestyle) at the end. It could have been a really good race for us.
 
"Our "B" team had a great race with McKenzie finishing the last leg (freestyle) with a 54. Olivia led off in the backstroke with a 1:01.00 was fun."
 
Garrison, a senior, is not normally a backstroke swimmer, hence the fun.
 
The Warriors will be back in the pool tomorrow for day three.