GREG BARNETT
Sports Assistant
The women’s swimming and diving team managed to host the seventh annual Malibu Invitational last Saturday. The team was looking to keep up its winning ways in the second event of the year after capturing the PCSC Invitational in early October.
The women performed well and three Pepperdine swimmers earned high point honors against a field of seven other teams including Loyola Marymount University, California Lutheran University and California Baptist University.
Head Coach Nick Rodionoff said the meet went well after the stressful week the team endured due to the fires. The team was unable to practice on Monday and Tuesday and the water heater for the pool also broke. The team finally got to practice on Wednesday in frigid water, but dealt with it in to prepare for the weekend.
Rodionoff said the team showed a step in the right direction with 15 women posting 22 personal best times during the meet.
“I think the girls swam well,” Rodionoff said. “We had 22 personal bests, which is a really good indication of the direction the team is heading.”
Leading the Waves were junior Haley Wilson, freshman Franny Cyphers and junior Amanda Pond. Wilson earned the most points in the sprint meet, Cyphers earned the most points in the distance meet and Pond earned the most points in the diving meet.
Wilson said because of the fires she had to go home to Santa Barbara, but she performed well and swam a personal best, finishing fourth in the 50 meter butterfly (26.94) and a season best in the 50 meter freestyle finishing second (24.42). She also finished third in the 100–meter butterfly (59.69) and second in the 100 meter freestyle (53.08).
“It feels great to earn the most points, but unexpected,” Wilson said. “The team had a lot of personal bests and that’s because everyone is stepping it up in practice and it’s showing in our meets.”
Cyphers said she wasn’t able to practice much in the days leading up to the event and her times weren’t as good as they could have been.
“I only got in the pool three times before the weekend,” she said. “Even though I won, the fires did affect my times.”
Cyphers swam one personal best in the 50 meter butterfly (26.95) and swam a season best time in the 400 meter individual medley (4:41.45) where she finished second. She also finished second in the 200 meter butterfly (2:10.17) and second in the 100 meter butterfly (58.33).
“I’m pretty stoked, I was surprised that I won.” Cyphers said. “I’m not much of a distance swimmer. I think of myself as a sprinter.”
Other top finishers in the swimming portion of the meet were senior Ali McLeod who won the 50 meter butterfly (26.34) and also won the 50 meter backstroke (27.98). Freshman Kayleen Hicks won the 50 meter backstroke (31.16) and Sophomore Dani Kimmel won the 100 meter breaststroke (1:06.84).
The diving meet also went well for the Waves with the top three finishers coming from Pepperdine. Junior Amanda Pond led the way with 238.90 points. She was followed by Shannon Hedman with 205.00 points and Tiffany Martz with 184.10 points.
“The meet went really well,” Pond said. “Everyone was relaxed, we had our home fans cheering us on as well.”
The Waves are back in the pool at the Big West Shootout in Irvine, Calif. According to Coach Rodionoff and the team, the competition will be a lot tougher in Irvine and the women will need to be at their best.
“The competition is going to be tough, but I think we’ll do great,” Wilson said.
11-01-2007
