By Ron Smith
October 11, 2026
 
(MALIBU, Calif.) In each of its eight seasons since the program began in 2019, Westmont Swim has traveled down the coast to compete at Pepperdine for an early-season meet. This year was no exception as the Warriors participated in the Sixth-Annual Rodionoff Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
 
The meet, which was attended by 12 different women's teams, was both scored and conducted according to division. Of the three NCAA Division II teams, Colorado State Pueblo placed first with 330.5 points, Westmont finished second with 284 points and Concordia finished third with 124.5 points.
 
"I was telling the team leading into the meet that this is really about collecting data, seeing what they can do when they're racing, and seeing what happens when they're tired," said Westmont's head coach Jill Lin, who has overseen the program since its inception. "We collected a lot of 25 splits throughout the race to see where the breakdown is happening. We tracked their tempo and their strokes to see if their tempo sped up or slowed down and how many strokes they are taking in a lap.
 
"So, we got a lot of data, which I think will really help us as we look towards mid-season and help us know how we need to improve before we get there - especially with a team of mostly freshmen. We are focusing on setting a really solid foundation for them so that we can build upon it each year after this and so we can be proactive on preventing injuries and illnesses."
 
In the 200 yard individual medley, freshman Gabi Midgett placed first with a time of 2:12.82, beating out the second-place swimmer by more than half a second.
 
Westmont's Kimberly Greene won the 1000 yard freestyle, recording a time of 10:42.33. Greene also placed first in the 500 yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 5:15.52, which was nearly five seconds faster than second place.
 
"Kimmy had some great races and was close to her lifetime best in the 500, which is a great race. Her 1000 was a season best, which still puts her in the top 15ish in Division II. That is really exciting.
 
"Noelle Landon had great races in the backstroke," added Lin.
 
Landon placed second in the 200 yard backstroke, finishing with a time of 2:11.65. The following day, she claimed first place in the 100 yard backstroke in a time of 59.11, winning by 1.82 seconds.
 
In the 100 yard breaststroke, freshman Sadie Sullivan posted a time of 1:06.53 to edge out Colorado Pueblo's Olivia Dannhaus by 0.11 seconds. The two reversed the order of finish in the 200 yard breaststroke, with Sullivan recording a second-place time of 2:27.83.
 
Midgett placed second in the 200 yard butterfly, posting a time of 2:12.81, and in the 200 yard freestyle, touching the wall in a time of 1:58.82.
 
"Our freshmen showed up and had some great races," pointed out Lin. "Braelyn Davis and Nicole Xu both had lifetime best times. Gabi was pretty close to her lifetime best times, and had dominant 200 yard individual medley, 200 yard butterfly, 500 yard freestyle and 200 freestyle races. She was a real star for our team.
 
"Our two breaststrokers Sadie and Marielle Essma did a great job killing it in the breaststroke events, as well in the individual medley. We also had Ella Kingsland who did a really tough double of the 200 yard butterfly and the 200 yard backstroke. Ella is such an impressive person. She has worked so hard in every single practice, giving it her all every day. It was fun to see her do really well and swim close to her lifetime best times in a meet like this, especially after that tough double.
 
"Audrey Essma has been dealing with an injury, so she hasn't had much time in the pool. However, she was ready to step up and race and it was cool to see her get out there and be on some of our relays.
 
"Aliya Martinez has also been battling an injury. She's a great sprinter and butterflier and it's fun to be able to see her go out there and have a good time. She's learning a lot too, which is really exciting."
 
As pleased as Lin was with the teams' performances, times and metrics were not the only things on Lin's mind.
 
"We talked a lot about the time not necessarily being the most important thing from the meet," noted Lin. "Time is a metric that we can look at and take into consideration in our data, but really what was going to define them at this meet was who they were and everything around their races. Were they a mature athlete getting in and warming up and taking care of their bodies? Were they a great teammate? Were they supporting one another even when maybe they didn't have the best race of their life? Were they gritty and resilient? No matter how they felt at the beginning of the race, did they finish strong and give it all they had?
 
"They did a really great job doing all that and I could say across the board that it was a really positive environment, really supportive and encouraging. I was grateful to be with them. They've seen the value in those things as well. In swimming your times can get so overwhelming and feel crushing. We talked a lot about the how the pressure of the time can weigh you down or push you forward. If it's not pushing you forward we need to reevaluate."
 
Next up for the Warriors is participation in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Open Water Championships at the Long Beach Marine Stadium on Saturday, October 17.