MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – While it doesn't look like a consecutive conference championship is in the cards for Azusa Pacific, a critical 10 points in the Cornerstone Cup in their last showdown with their archrival is on the line and coming down to the wire at the PCSC Championships.  The Cougars will enter the final day with a lead of just 4.5 points over Biola in the battle for third place.  And third was the ordinal number of the day, as the Cougars finished third in all five events that took place on Friday.

The evening session started with Kya Guikema earning 27 points for the Cougars with a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle, hitting the wall in a time of 5:00.86, an improvement of nearly four seconds over her time in the morning prelims.  The momentum carried over into the 100 backstroke, where the Cougars earned two spots in the final, with Mikaela Maemura placing third in 56.01 and Gillian Sato coming in sixth with a 57.10.  Those two performances were worth an additional 51 points in the overall standings.

Action then moved to the 100 breaststroke, where Courtney Seljeseth made it three straight races where an Azusa Pacific swimmer finished in third place, touching the wall in 1:03.17 to earn another 27 points.  Sydnee Wilson added another 20 by winning the B final in the same event to place ninth.  Angelica Benitez made it four bronze medals on the trot in the individual events in the 200 butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:04.23 to keep compiling the points, with Ashley Cochran winning the B final and Adelle Brush, Marcelina Halawczak, and Pierson Reiger all finishing in the points to allow the Cougars to finally eliminate the narrow lead Biola had assumed on Thursday.

The final event of the day was another relay, the 4x50 medley relay.  And the quartet of Sato, Seljeseth, Benitez, and Ellie Sivesind earned yet another third-place finish, adding 54 more points to the total.

The final day of competition will take place on Saturday at East Los Angeles College, with finals in the 1650 and 100 freestyles, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 4x100 freestyle relay, and the 1m springboard diving.

Top 5 after Day Three:

1.     Cal State East Bay (1023.5 points)

2.    UC Santa Cruz (891)

3.    Azusa Pacific (759)

4.    Biola (754.5)