ALISO VIEJO, Calif. – The swimming and diving team kicked off its finishing sprint at the Triple Distance Invitational hosted by Soka University Saturday morning.  In this event, swimmers compete at three distances in their specific stroke, with freestyle swimmers choosing between the sprinting distances (50, 100, and 200 yards) or the distance events (200, 500, and 1,000 yards).

Sydnee Wilson was the star of the show in the freestyle sprints.  The sophomore not only took first place overall over her three events, she finished first in all three distances.  Wilson hit the wall in 24.37 in the 50-yard freestyle, 53.00 in the 100, and 1:56.63 in the 200.  Right on her heels in the sprints was Angelica Benitez, who placed third in both the 50 and 100 while claiming second in the 200.

Kya Guikema would equal Wilson's feats by sweeping the distance competition.  In her 200-yard heat, she bested six other swimmers to touch the wall in a time of 1:59.54, beating the rest of the field by nearly three full seconds.  She then turned in a 5:18.65 in the 500 and 10:52.18 in the 1000, winning that heat by 17 seconds.

Switching to the backstroke, Mikaela Maemura won both the 50- and 100-yard heats before finishing a strong fourth in the 200.  Aleena Herrera proved to get better with increased distance, jumping up to second in the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:11.83.  And in the butterfly, Ashley Cochran again swept all three distances, completing the 50, 100, and 200 in 27.43, 59.09, and 2:10.36, respectively.

Up Next: The Cougars next head to Malibu for their final dual meet of the season against Pepperdine.  The action starts on January 24th at 10:00 a.m.