Sunday, November 21st - Winter Invitational Day Three & Overall Recap

Azusa Pacific women's swimming & diving had three swimmers earn National Qualifying times at the NCAA DII "B" standard and also saw three school records be broken throughout the weekend at the Winter Invitational. The trio of Amanda Anderson, Montana White, and Riley Smith all swam times that qualified them for nationals while Anderson and White each set school records and qualified for nationals in two events.

Anderson broke her own record in the 200 Breast with her personal best time of 2:19.30 which earned her the top spot in the prelims before she placed third in the event final. Anderson also qualified for nationals in the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.79 which was over three seconds faster than the NCAA DII "B" standard.

After breaking the school record in the 200 Free on Saturday to earn her first National Qualifying time, White broke the school record in the 100 Free on Sunday where she placed second in the final with a time of 50.94. Both records were set previously by Elodie Poo Cheong in 2019.

Also in the 200 Free on Saturday, Smith took third place in the final with a time of 1:53.00 which met the national qualifying time at the NCAA DII "B" standard.

On Sunday, Emily Rigsby finished second in the 200 Fly final with her personal best time of 2:06.35 after finishing in fourth in the preliminary races. Among other standouts on Sunday, Delanie Gearing took fourth place in the 200 Breast final and the prelims with her best time of the event being 2:22.36. Gearing also finished in seventh place in the 100 Breast to cap off another great weekend. Marci Yanagawa took sixth place in the 200 Back with a time of 2:09.62 after finishing in fifth place in the prelims. The Cougars then finished things off in the lanes Sunday with a second place finish in the 400 Free relay behind Smith, White, Tessie Scavone, and Rigsby who recorded a time of 3:30.41.

Senior diver Melia Stout placed second at the three-meter designation with a total of 256.05 points on Sunday after taking first place in the one-meter dive event on Friday.


Saturday, November 20th - Winter Invitational Day Two

Azusa Pacific women's swimming & diving stayed in sixth place after another strong showing on Saturday at the Winter Invitational. The Cougars picked up another 263 points today to put their total at 502 going into the final day Sunday. 

Montana White put on a show once again, winning the 200 free race with a school & meet record time of 1:49.96. White's time took the place of Elodie Poo Cheong who's school record was set back in February of 2019 at the PCSC Conference meet. White also helped her team to a second-place finish in the 800 free relay alongside teammates Riley Smith, Tessie Scavone, and Emily Rigsby.

In the same race White broke the school record, Smith performed well in the final with a third place finish with a time of 1:53.00 which was a National Qualifying time at the NCAA DII "B" standard. Smith also helped the team in the 800 free relay as mentioned above.

Amanda Anderson took home a second-place finish in the 400 IM with a meet record time of 4:26.79 but was edged out by Simon Fraser's Kennedy Loewen. Scavone placed 10th in the event which was second in the "B" final after finishing 12th in the prelims.

In the 100 backstroke race, Marci Yanagawa was the top Cougar as she took 10th place with a time of 59.30 and was also apart of a seventh place finish in the 200 medley relay along with teammates Delanie Gearing, Scavone, and Smith.

Up Next: Azusa Pacific will travel to Los Angeles for the third day of the Winter Invitational at East Los Angeles College. They are set to compete Sunday, November 21st while the event will begin at 10:00 a.m. and can be streamed live here.


Friday, November 19th - Winter Invitational Day One

Azusa Pacific women's swimming & diving finished in sixth place among 13 on the leader board Friday at the Winter Invitational with a total of 239 points. With the score, the Cougars advance to day two of the event tomorrow after strong performances in the lanes and on the boards.

Among the standouts, freshman Montana White found herself in the spotlight once again while strong performances from Amanda Anderson, Tessie Scavone, and divers Melia Stout and Amy Crayne helped the Cougars earn their way to day two.

White broke a meet record in the 500 free final in which she took second place in the event with a time of 4:56.99 but was edged out by Simon Fraser's Tori Meklensek. Meklensek's time of 4:55.77 shattered the meet record that was set in 2001which was 4:59.91.

In the same event, Scavone finished sixth in the 500 free final after qualifying for the "A" final in the prelims. Riley Smith and Hannah Frey earned the one-and-two spots in the 500 free B final. 

The Cougars secured more points in the 200 IM final with an Anderson third place finish in the A final after finishing seventh in the prelims. Anderson improved her time from the prelims to the final by over two seconds (2:07.62).

On the boards, Stout and Crayne finished 1-2 at the one-meter designation among over 15 other divers. Stout led all divers with a score of 276.70 while her senior teammate in Crayne finished second with 263.55 points. 

To round out day one, the Cougars would finish in third in the 400 medley relay as the quartet of Marci Yanagawa, Anderson, Emily Rigsby, and White swam a 3:55.0 time that was only behind Simon Fraser and the University of San Diego.