Nov. 20, 2010
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The LMU swimming program hit the water against a stacked field beginning on Thursday at the Arena Invitational in Long Beach, Calif. The Lions posted a number of season-best times on Thursday before Rachel Dekar set a new LMU record in the 100 breaststroke on Friday.
Dekar broke the program record and qualified for the consolation final before improving her time in the final and lowering the record further with a 1:03.68. She ended up 15th overall against some of the best breaststrokers in the country.
Isabella Zhang was the only swimmer able to make it back into the Top-24 on Thursday, placing 22nd in the 50 freestyle with a 23.52, which shaved .08 off her personal-best time from last year's conference championships. She remains as the second-fastest sprinter in LMU history, and is approaching Anne Scott's record time of 23.26.
The LMU 200 freestyle relay (Carolyn Pasque, Camille Hopp, Sophie Allen, and Zhang) and 400 medley relay (Allen, Dekar, Yvonne Le, and Zhang) did well in a very competitive field, turning in times of 1:34.84 and 3:50.82, respectively. Both relay times were season bests and within a second of LMU's school records. Allen's 100 backstroke lead off time in the 400 medley relay was the second-fastest time in LMU program history.
The Lions swam well in the 500 freestyle, as freshman Angelina Prat dropped her time by over eight seconds to record the Lion's fastest time this year (5:11.26). Mary Kate Short (5:15.66) and Kia Dobie also dropped their season-best times by two seconds (5:17.93). Terry Rinder, who has been performing well all season, dropped her time by a second at 5:15.08.
In the 200 individual medley, Tammy Choy (2:07.70), Dekar (2:09.11) and Le (2:11.69) all took a three second drop en route to stellar times. Christina Cannata shaved six seconds while establishing a new personal-best time of 2:12.93.
In addition to Zhang's stellar showing in the 50 freestyle, every Lion in the event posted a season-best time. Pasque just missed making it back for the evening finals with a 23.91. Freshmen Katie Rick and Lauren Saylor established new personal-best times of 24.92 and 25.34, respectively.
The Lions followed up the strong Thursday with another impressive showing on Friday, including lifetime-best times from Zhang in the 200 freestyle (1:52.25), Short in the 400 individual medley (4:41.02) and Prat in the 100 butterfly (58.97). For her efforts, Zhang made it back into the finals, finishing 31st overall.
Outside of Dekar's record-breaking performance, Allen also had an outstanding 100 backstroke, making it back into the finals and finishing 31st. Her preliminary time of 57.32 is second on LMU all-time top performance list.
The Lions conclude competition at the Arena Invitational on Saturday.
