MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Azusa Pacific's swimming and diving team made its latest stop on their fall tour, competing in the Winter Collegiate Invite at East Los Angeles College, officially hosted by La Verne University.  For the Cougars, it was a return to the scene of their greatest triumph, having won their first-ever conference title in this very pool this past February.

Angelica Benitez provided the big highlight on day one of the competition, finishing second in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:04.78.  Aleena Herrera finished a close fourth less than a second behind Benitez, allowing the Cougars to pick up 77 points in the event. Sydnee Wilson qualified for the final in the 50 freestyle, finishing 8th in a field of 114.

The quartet of Mikaela Maemura, Wilson, Benitez, and Ellie Sivesind earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish in the 4x100 medley relay.  The following day, swapping out Sivesind for Courtney Seljeseth, the team took sixth in the 4x50 medley relay.  Herrera then followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the 400 IM.  Maemura earned her second podium of the weekend by taking third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.65.

Kya Guikema took sixth out of 39 competitors in the longest event of the competition, completing 1,650 yards (63 lengths of the pool) in 17:46.41.  Wilson had her best finish of the weekend with a second place in the 100 freestyle, hitting the wall in 51.42 seconds.  And Benitez closed out the competition by claiming the win in the 200 butterfly, taking first with a time of 2:04.03.  Ashley Cochran joined Benitez on the podium, finishing in third.  Brooklyn Melvin competed for the Cougars in the diving events, placing 7th in the 3-meter competition.

In all, the Cougars finished the meet with 841 points, finishing 5th in a field of 15 schools.  The Cougars will compete one more time before the Christmas break, heading up the coast to Westmont for a dual meet on December 6th.