DALLAS – The Hawai'i swimming & diving program turned in a strong opening day at the SMU Invitational Thursday, highlighted by a women's 200 free relay school record, several top-10 times and numerous personal bests on both the men's and women's side.
 
As a team, the Rainbow Wahine sit in second place with 227 points while the Rainbow Warriors are in third with 163.50 points.
 
The relay squad of Holly Nelson, Laticia Transom, Anna Friedrich and Gabby Scudamore set a school record with a time of 1:29.63 to take the victory in the final. Nelson swam a 22.98 in her 50 before Transom clocked a blistering 21.54 on the second leg, followed by a 22.92 from Friedrich and a 22.19 by Scudamore to bring it home.
 
The Rainbow Wahine added to their strong day, putting up six program top-10 times. Transom continued her stellar start to her UH career, adding her name to the 100 Fly top 10 and improving upon her 50 Free time. She clocked a personal-best 53.22 in the 100 Fly to give her the No. 3 time in program history and an NCAA B cut time, before moving into a tie for third at UH in the 50 Free with a mark of 22.47.
 
Nelson joined Transom in the UH top 10 in the 50 Free, finishing fifth in 22.90 seconds to put her in a tie for ninth-fastest in school history. Cass Treydte put up the program's third-fastest time in the 500 Free, coming in third with a time of 4:49.42, becoming just the third Rainbow Wahine ever to crack the 4:50 mark in the event.
 
Friedrich delivered the final two top-10 times, improving upon her 100 Fly time and jumping into the 200 IM top 10. She set a personal best with a 54.25 in the 100 Fly, to sit in seventh in program history, while swimming a 2:02.56 in the 200 IM prelims to move into eight all-time at UH.
 
The Wahine capped off opening day with another relay victory, this time taking the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:36.43, four seconds clear of second place. Transom, Mandolin Nguyen, Friedrich and Nelson combined to come less than a second away from breaking yet another school record, which still stands at 3:35.84.
 
A number of personal bests highlighted opening day for the Rainbow Warriors, led by Ian Venter who had a strong day in the 500 Free. Venter, who hadn't cracked 4:30 in the event in collegiate competition, swam a 4:28.29 in the prelims before clocking a 4:26.78 in the final to finish third.
 
Milan Bukovics added a pair of PRs in finals action, swimming a 48.33 in the 100 Fly finals before finishing fifth in the 200 IM in 1:48.87.
 
The Hawai'i divers also had a solid first day of competition, as three women made the finals of the 1-meter competition and both men who entered the 3-meter made the finals. Isabelle Lombardi led the way for the Wahine, finishing fifth with a mark of 259.80, while Juan Gonzalez posted a score of 318.85 to pace the Warriors with a sixth-place finish.
 
The Rainbow Warriors and Wahine are back in action on Friday, beginning with prelims in the pool at 6 a.m. HT, followed by diving action at 9 a.m. and swimming finals at 2 p.m.