LONG BEACH, Calif. - The LMU Women's Swim Team opened the 2023-24 season against four Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference rivals in a relay competition on Saturday. 

In the first of ten events, LMU jumped out to a quick lead by winning the 3 x 100 Butterfly relay and opening up a four-point margin over the 2023 Conference runner-up, Azusa Pacific University. Freshmen Adele Kopis and Hayden Cutler, swimming in their first collegiate race, and senior team captain Abby Shaw contributed to the win. After the victory in the first race, the Lions never looked back, holding on to a small point margin over APU over the remaining nine events of the competition. LMU finished with a point total of 105 to APU's 102. Concordia finished in third with 83 points, followed by the Masters with 42 and Westmont with 38.
 
Head Coach Bonnie Adair, commenting on the win, credited the victory to the team's depth, with nine freshmen and two transfers joining 16 returning swimmers from last year's squad.

"In today's competition, each school was allowed to enter three relay teams in each of the ten events, but only two of the relay teams could score points for the team (scoring is 1^st – 8^th place).  We'd been lucky to score our "A" team in past years. But today, in some of the events, there was very little difference between our "A" relay and "B" relay times, as we now have four or more swimmers in each stroke capable of scoring points at our conference meet.  As a result, not only did our "A" relays place well, but most of our "B" relays placed in the top five in this competition, and even some of our "C" relays placed in the top 8. Following the impact of COVID-19, we have been aggressively rebuilding our team with the last two recruiting classes, but this large group of newcomers is a game changer.  The increased energy and competitiveness in our workouts are palpable, contributing to our victory today.  We are excited to watch the team develop further over the next month as we continue to train hard and participate in more competitions before 'tapering' for a mid-season invitational in late November."
 
The Lions are next in action at the Rodionoff Invitational at Pepperdine on October 13 and 14 in Malibu, Calif.

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