LOS ANGELES – The Hawai'i men's and women's swimming and diving programs finished off a successful opening weekend of competition Saturday at the USC Invitational with a number of event wins, high finishes and top-10 performances.
For the second straight day, both the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine turned in strong showings in a relay to kick off the action. After a third-place finish in the women's 200 free relay, the men's relay squad of
Mario Surkovic,
Jakub Ksiazek,
Jordan Meacham and
Timothy Gallagher picked up a victory with a time of 1:20.60, edging out USC's relay team by .28 seconds.
Kathryn Ivanov and
Mandolin Nguyen each turned in solid swims in the women's 100 breaststroke, with Ivanov coming in third with a time of 1:02.19 followed by Nguyen close behind in fourth with a mark of 1:02.53. The pair came back for the 200 breaststroke in the afternoon session, with Nguyen improving upon her fifth-fastest time in school history with a 2:12.70 to finish runner-up followed by Ivanov in fourth with a mark of 2:14.67
Both teams opened the afternoon session with third-place finishes in the 200 medley relay. The Rainbow Wahine squad of
Alexa Ozment,
Kathryn Ivanov,
Anna Friedrich and
Gabrielle Scudamore finished with a time of 1:41.36 while the men's team of Gallagher,
Justin Lisoway, Grand Stoddard and Surkovic swam 1:28.30 to finish behind a pair of USC relay squads.
Delara Ditterich delivered a strong effort in the women's 1650 free, coming in second with a personal-best time of 17:05.91, a time that sits just six seconds outside the UH top 10.
Kailee Chow finished third in the women's 200 fly with a mark of 2:02.60 while
Isabelle Meraz followed in fifth, stopping the clock in 2:04.63.
Milan Bukovics led the way for the men with a third-place finish in the 200 fly, finishing in 1:47.44.
The two swim squads capped off the meet with another solid showing in a relay, as the Rainbow Warriors finished runner-up in the 400 free relay in 2:56.85 while the Rainbow Wahine came in third in 3:23.00.
The UH diving squads ended their meet at California Baptist with a pair of individual wins.
Elma Lund took home the women's 3-meter competition with a score of 270.00 while
Isabella Plantz made it a 1-2 Rainbow Wahine finish with a mark of 268.90.
Mackaby Pennington claimed the men's 1-meter competition with a score of 306.10 while
Juan Gonzalez came in fourth with a mark of 287.00.
Hawai'i will have the next month off from competition before heading to the SMU Invitational, Nov. 15-18.
