SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Azusa Pacific pulled away from the pack, winning 12 events overall en route to a first-place finish at the UC Santa Cruz Slug Shootout.  The Cougars finished 175 points ahead of second-place Cal State East Bay, easily pacing a field of eight schools.

How It Happened: The Cougars were paced all weekend by all-American Montana White, who won every freestyle event of 500 yards and longer, on multiple occasions having lapped the field in the process.  She won the 1000 free by 39 seconds in the second event of the weekend, setting the tone for the rest of the team.  The team placed three swimmers in the top 6 of the next event, the 200 free, which put them in first place in the team standings for good.  Mikaela Maemura then got in on the action with a 57.64 time to win the 100 backstroke.  Shortly after that, Sydnee Wilson got in on the podium-summiting, claiming 1st place in the 50 free with a time of 23.96.  The trio of first-place finishers capped the day by teaming up with Madeline Schultz to win the 200 free relay in 1:36.53.  Coupled with Allison Ferrer's victory in the 1m springboard diving event, the Cougars were sitting pretty with 433.5 points at the end of day one.

White again got day two going quickly with a win in the 500 free, with Kya Guikema coming in third in the event as well.  Maemura and Marci Yanagawa followed that up with a 1-2 finish in the 50 backstroke, with Maemura besting even her seed time with a 26.97.  Wilson made it three events in a row for the Cougars with a personal-best 30.52 in the 50 breaststroke.  Shortly after, White and Wilson were the first two to the finish line in the 100 free, with White throwing down a 51.66 and six Azusa Pacific swimmers finishing in the top 12 of the event.  In the 200 individual medley, Aleena Herrera finished less than a quarter of a second behind the winner, earning 17 points for second place with a time of 2:11.49.  Ferrer swept the diving events, winning the 3m platform competition with 230.5 points.  And after winning the 400 freestyle relay, White brought the meet to a close by blowing the field away in the final event, the 1650 free.  Swimming nearly a mile, the senior's winning time of 17:35.75 was more than 65 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

In all, the Cougars won going away, racking up 944.5 points over the two days of competition, a full 175 points clear of second-place Cal State East Bay; and more than doubling the score of the other D2 competitor at the meet, Fresno Pacific.

Up Next: The Cougars next meet will be their lone home meet of the season, as they host their annual meet against Biola in the pool at Slauson Park on November 2.  The meet will start at 10:00 a.m.