By Massiel Ladron De Guevara
Staff Writer
A wave of high hopes has swept over the Pepperdine swim team as they prepare for Saturday’s meet against SDSU.
“I think the meet against SDSU will be a hard meet, much like the one against Northridge, but I’m confident we will do well,” sophomore Stephanie Hammond said. “It really is anyone’s meet, so we will be working hard to win.”
The Waves lost to their Local Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference rival, Cal State Northridge, last Saturday, 185-113. Pepperdine stands at 4-3 in dual meet action.
The lady Waves had some strong swims in the meet, which they hosted at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. Senior Jessica Umbewest earned a second place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:13.60 and also helped Pepperdine finish second in both relay events. Seniors Amy Lehman, Umbewest, and sophomores Lindsey Krusen and Hammond recorded a time of 1:53.97 in the 200 medley relay.
“It’s going to be a big loss for the team when Jessica graduates this semester,” Hammond said. “She is a great strength both in and out of the water for this relay. She is a real hard worker and she will definitely be missed by us all.”
Sophomore Meghan Melton and junior Erin Schindler joined Lehman and Unbewest to clock in a time of 3:45.86 in the second relay, the 400 freestyle, taking second place.
Hammond went on to win second place in her individual event, the 200 breaststroke, with a time of 2:31.80 and third in the 100 breaststroke clocking in at 1:10.08.
Krusen also went on to win her individual event, the 200 butterfly, with a time of 2:14.86, while Lehman finished third in the 50 freestyle coming in at 25.84.
Other lady Waves who swam strong at Saturday’s meet were rookie Samantha Orange, who finished second in the demanding distance swim, the 1000 freestyle, with a time of 11:11.04. Orange also finished third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:28.33.
Melton recorded a time of 5:19.05 in the 500 freestyle finishing second overall, and senior Hillary Viets finished third in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 11:26.53.
Sophomore Alison Reddick was second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:04.03 and third in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:17.76. Sophomore Brina Bendy finished third in both of her events this Saturday finishing the 100 butterfly in 1:04.53 and the 200 freestyle in 1:59.67.
Women’s head swimming coach Nick Rodionoff said he was happy with how the Waves swam on Saturday. “We were just coming off of Christmas break and some intensive training, so we did very well,” Rodionoff said. “We had some very strong long distance swims this meet.”
In the diving portion of the meet, Michelle Barker qualified for the NCAA championships.
Rodionoff is looking forward to the meet against the Aztecs. “We will be swimming against SDSU at home,” Rodionoff said. “It will give us an opportunity to swim well against a big school that has a strong team.”
Seniors on the team are also anticipating the meet, trying to savor the last of their swimming careers.
“I’m very glad that conference will be a home meet. That way we will have an opportunity to rest,” Unbewust said. “I’m looking forward to it. My swimming career went by really fast. I’m still kind of in awe of how fast it all went.”
Conference will be held on Feb. 18-20 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. The meet against SDSU will be the last meet before conference. “It will be the last swim for our seniors this year,” Rodinoff said. “Then it is straight to conference. We are all looking forward to it.”
January 24, 2002