By Ron Smith
February 1, 2026
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) With the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships just a week and one-half away, Westmont swimmers prepared by tuning up at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational. The event was held at the Elings Aquatic Center on the campus of Dos Pueblos High School.
 
"We had a great meet with a lot of lifetime and season best times," reported Westmont's head coach Jill Lin. "A big reason we love this meet is that it is an opportunity for us to suit up and either swim in events we will swim at the conference championship and get confirmation that we are making the right choices, or swimming events that we wouldn't have a chance to swim at the championships because they are secondary events that might conflict with our primary events.
 
The two-day event started on Friday afternoon.
 
"We started out with the 500 yard freestyle with Leighton Bell having a lifetime best (5:26.97)," said Lin. "She has been working so hard and training with the distance group off and on. It is cool to see her have success in that event. Madi Edwards (5:32.11) and Megan Traina (5:21.41) also had lifetime bests in the 500. Megan had a great back half.
 
"In the 200 yard individual medley, Kimberley Greene had a lifetime best (2:13.14), which was exciting for her because she only trains for freestyle. Katlyn McCurtain also had a lifetime best of 2:11.87, which was an outstanding swim for her. Emma Robinson (2:21.16) and Kate Spraul (2:09.76) also had lifetime bests. Kate has not been training for that event, but she was able to do it again. It's a great confidence boost for her.
 
"We also had lifetime bests in the 50 yard freestyle. Abby Rickard finally broke the 27 second barrier with a 26.95, which was really exciting. Willow Pezone (24.80) was very close to her lifetime best.
 
"In the 400 yard freestyle relay, Willow led off as a last minute addition and she split 53.6 which is really good for that swim."
 
Westmont foursome of Pezone, Emma Bustamante, Emma Robinson and Greene posted a time of 3:45.17 in the final event of the first day.
 
"Saturday's first event was the 200 yard medley relay, both our A and B teams had really great times," expressed Lin.
 
McCurtain, Abby Rickard, Maliana Calica and Laruen Healy posted a time of 1:52.80 while Traina, Edwards, Pezone and Bell touched the wall in a time of 1:55.95.
 
"In the 100 yard butterfly, Maliana (1:03.07), Madi (1:02.98) and Abby 1:06.39) all had lifetime bests and Kate Spraul was just off her lifetime best with a 57.96," said Lin. "She has not trained for the butterfly all season but she was close to our program record.
 
"In the 400 yard individual medley, Katlyn had a great swim. The first time she swam it was a year ago at this meet and went a 5:02. Today she had a 4:42.02, which puts her pretty high up in the conference for that event. I don't think she will swim it at the championship meet, but it is exciting to see her versatility and see her go all out. Her last split was a 1:01 high in the 100 freestyle, which was great."
 
Other Warrior swimmers recording lifetime bests were Healy (2:01.93) and Robinson (2:00.88) in the 200 yard freestyle, and Noelle Landon (1:10.16) and Spraul (1:09.82) in the 100 yard breaststroke.
 
The Warriors' 800 yard freestyle relay team of Bell, McKenzie Rion, Izzy Garcia and Greene notched a time of 8:08.11.
 
"In the evening, we had the 1650 yard freestyle," said Lin. "Katlyn was our lone swimmer and she was doing it for the first time. She went a 17:56.57, which is an incredible swim. She has been training hard with the distance group. She is not a miler, but has been doing that to build up her confidence in her 500 yard and 200 yard freestyle.
 
"In the 200 yard backstroke, Noelle had a season best (2:11.13) and Emma Robinson (2:18.29) had a lifetime best. In the 100 yard freestyle, Willow posted a lifetime best (52.83), barely breaking the time she set earlier this year.
 
"In the 200 yard breaststroke, Kelly Neill had a lifetime best (2:33.63). It was one of the best highlights. She is such an example of dedication and work ethic and doing all the things she can to be her best, in and out of the pool. She is a leader and inspiration as a swimmer and a person. I am so proud of her to see all that pay off in this race. It was well deserved.
 
"Tiffany Ball came out guns blazing in the 200 yard butterfly (2:28.56). Her previous lifetime best was from a long time ago, which she dropped by 30 seconds. It was cool to see Tiff get out there and race in an event that is challenging for her. She did it with so much grit and determination.
 
"In the 200 yard freestyle relay. We had eight of our seniors on two relays race against each other. It was fun to see McKenzie, Leighton, Lauren and Emma Bustamante (1:44.38) go head to head with Katlyn, Emma Robbinson, Brogan Braaten and Daisy Marquardt (1:43.40)."
 
Westmont's other team in the event of Landon, Pezone, Traina and Greene posted a time of 1:42.99.
 
"Overall, it was a great meet for us," assessed Lin. "The energy and excitement was high. It gave us a renewed perspective as we head into conference in a few days that when we go out and have fun racing, good things can happen. I am excited to see them put it all together at the conference meet, even though it is a challenging meet with prelims and finals and fatigue and exhaustion and poor air quality and all the things we have to battle during that week, I hope they can think back to this time and the remember the great time we had racing."
 
The PCSC Championships will be held over four days at the East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium in Monterey Park beginning on Wednesday, February 11.