MALIBU, Calif. — Azusa Pacific swimming & diving opened its season at the Rodionoff Invitational located at Pepperdine University Saturday. The Cougars were one of nine programs competing at today's event in the pool and on the boards. 

Multiple Cougars performed well in their opening meet in the lanes today, Montana White and Riley Smith impressed with a first and second place finish in the 200 Free while Delanie Gearing and Amanda Anderson did the same in the 200 Breast. White edged out Smith with a time of 1:53.89 while Gearing and Anderson's race was separated by three hundredths of a second with Gearing winning the race with a time of 2:25.33. 

White shined in her first collegiate swim meet, winning the 200 Free (mentioned above), and the 500 Free with a time of 5:03.81. She also helped her team to their win in the 400 Free relay which they won with a time of 3:34.61. White swam the second leg behind Smith and before Gearing and Emily Rigsby. 

Among other events, the Cougars ran a great race in the 200 Free relay as their top team of Marci Yanagawa, Anderson, Rigsby, and Smith finished second with a time of 1:50.78. Yanagawa also finished second in the 100 Back with a time of 59.91 to earn seven points for her team. In the 50 Free, Smith earned a second place finish with a time of 24.98.

On the boards, Melia Stout finished first in the one-meter with a total of 256.10 points which was good enough to earn an NCAA National qualification (255 and above). While McKenna Webster finished second in the one-meter scoring seven points after finishing with 237.25 points. Both Cougars accumulated the numbers over six total dives.

Quotable: "Our first meet out of the gate, we had strong swims," head coach Tim Kyle said, "We are excited about where we are, but not satisfied. I am impressed by how the team has rallied around each other and how they have continue to work hard every day to improve."

Up Next: Azusa Pacific will host rival Biola in its next meet on Saturday, October 23rd. The meet will begin at 10:00 a.m. at Slauson Pool in Azusa, Calif.