LMU swimmers posted their best times of the season, along with many lifetime best times, at the mid-season Winter Invitational at East LA College Friday through Sunday.  Leading the Lions were Abby Shaw, Heidi Ly and Lily Gallagher who qualified back into the Championship finals over the three-day event.  
 
DAY 1 RECAP
The preliminary events on Day 1 saw five Lions advance to the evening's finals.  Junior Lily Gallagher led a pack of seven Lions to season best times in the 500 free with a preliminary time of 5:09.92, qualifying for the Championship final and placing seventh in the evening finals.  Freshman Natalie Hogenboom also qualified for an evening swim placing 19th in 5:14.02.  Holly Prince, swimming a lifetime best time of 5:21.27, just missed making it back for an evening swim as an alternate in 26^th place.  
 
In the 200 Individual Medley, Sophomore Heidi Ly and Freshman Ashley Leaman qualified for evening swims with Ly making it into the Championship final with a season best 2:11.09 placing 8^th and Leaman in 13^th with a 2:11.63. Freshman Frances Dygean just missed the evening finals with a 2:15.45, a personal best time by over five seconds.  In the last event of the day, sprint standout Abby Shaw was the Lion's sole finalist in the 50 free, qualifying for the Championship final and placing fifth with a season best 24.17
 
DAY 2 RECAP
Five individual events were contested on Day 2 with nine Lions advancing to the evening finals. 
Ryann Dorris led off the finals with a 22^nd place finish in the 400 Individual medley with a season best time of 4:52.39.  In the 100 butterfly event that followed, Shaw  made it two-for-two with another Championship final placing 7^th in the 100 butterfly with a 58.06 (57.94 in prelims).  Gallagher made in back into her second final in the 200 freestyle placing 11^th in a season best time of 1:56.24 with Caitlin Basulto following in 22^nd with 1:59.70.  Kelli Andrade was the sole finalist in the 100 breaststroke, placing 11^th with a season best 1:07.20.
 
The Lions showed their strength in the 100 backstroke as four Lions made it back into the evening finals.  Ly made her second Championship final placing sixth in a 59.02 followed by Dygean placing 12^th in 1:00.34, Leaman placing 20^th in 1:00.88, and Bebe Choroser placing 21th in 1:00.92.  Choroser's morning prelim time of 1:00.41 was a lifetime best by over two seconds.
 
In the last event of the day, both the "A" and "B" relay teams in the 800 freestyle relay swam strong splits to place sixth and 13^th.  Junior Alyssa Stovall, swimming a 200 freestyle for the first time during her collegiate career, split a personal best time by over two seconds to help the "B" team add point to the team total.
 
DAY 3 RECAP
Six individual events were contested on Day 3 with 14 Lions scoring in the finals.  Four Lions placed in the 1650 freestyle led by Gallagher in 11^th in 18:14.82.  Junior Bella Flaminio was 13^th in 18:21.49, followed by Prince in 17^th in 18:29.02, and Basulto in 24^th  in 18:54.24.  Four additional Lions scored in the sprint 100 individual medley that followed, led by 
Shaw in 11th with a 1:01.25), Dygean in 14th in 1:02.7), Andrade in 16th in 1:03.55, and Stovall in 21st in 1:04.90.
 
LMU's strength in the backstroke events was again demonstrated in the 200 Back with three Lions scoring in the evening finals led by Ly in 10^th in 2:09.16, Sarah Lu in 15th in 2:14.71 (2:13.12 prelims), and Choroser winning the C Final for 17^th place in 2:12.27, another lifetime best time.  In the 100 free that followed, Shaw, placed 16^th.  Dygean, swimming her second event of the day, was the sole scorer in the 200 breaststroke placing 24^th. Concluding the meet in the 200 butterfly, Hogenboom placed 12th in a season best time of 2:11.97 with Senior Sabine Caplin winning the C-final for 17^th with 2:18.46.
 
The Lions will continue their training following the Thanksgiving break as they head into final exams.  Their next competition will be January 2^nd against UCSD and CSUB in La Jolla.