Courtesy: Pepperdine Athletics
MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine won three relays and nine individual events in a tune-up meet with the Westmont Warriors, a NAIA school hailing from Santa Barbara, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 12.
“If there’s anything we have learned in this pandemic, it’s that things change quickly,” Monobe said. “I’m happy that we’ve been able to have a slew of meets under our belt. And I know our girls have, from the get-go, have decided that the attitude [they’re] going to choose is gratitude. We have to take advantage of every single racing opportunity we have because it can get taken away.”
Plenty of Pepperdine swimmers experimented with different events: Sprinters tried out distance events and coaches shuffled the relay orders, which provided Waves with new opportunities to compete against each other.
“I think [the team] was pretty excited for a change of pace and a change of events,” Pepperdine head coach Ellie Monobe said. “We always remind them that at any moment, you could have an opportunity to be on a relay. For us, it’s more about who’s on fire and who’s putting the times up the day of the meet. Things can change quite a bit, so it’s always good for us to try out different combinations.”
To wit, Paige Tattersall, Audrey Camarillo, Jordan Williams and Jenna Sanchez beat an equally-matched team of Emily Morton, Tay Thomas, Pia Anderson and Olivia Kayye by 36 hundredths of a second. The winning time was 1:43.05.
“Olivia Kayye taking the lead in one of our sprint relays was fun to watch,” Monobe said. “I think she really enjoyed that, and I enjoyed seeing what she’s capable of doing.”
The next event was almost as close as the one preceding it. Jasmine Williams (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Ellie Hendren (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista HS) battled down the stretch in the 200 backstroke; the former won with a 2:12.18.
The next two races, however, were familiar sights. Sophomore Emily Morton (Golden, Colo./Lakewood HS) won her first of two events of the day in the 100 IM. She won with a 1:00.95. Sammie Slater (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS) then won the 200 free with a 1:56.83.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Kayye (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill HS) won with a 1:09.88.
For the second relay event of the day, Pepperdine went with its usual group of Morton, Sanchez (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley HS), Jasmine Williams and Slater and won with a 1:53.33.
After a brief intermission, Morton picked up another 400 IM win — this time with a 4:35.50. For the second time that morning, Slater followed Morton’s win with one of her own, this time winning the 100 free with a 54.43. In the penultimate sprint event of the day, Hendren took home a win in the 100 backstroke with a 1:01.78.
The 500 freestyle pitted several sprint freestylers against their long-distance counterparts, yet senior captain Paige Brackett (Folsom, Calif./Granite Bay HS) outlasted her teammates and won with a 5:21.43.
In the final individual event of the day, freshman Tay Thomas (Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park HS) edged out two of her teammates to win in a 1:00.96.
Finally, Pepperdine’s balanced A and B squads duked it out in the 400 free relay. The last leg pitted Hendren and Slater — two mainstays on Pepperdine’s relay team — against each other. Slater’s team of Kayye, Pia Anderson (Concord, Calif./Carondelet HS) and Tattersall won in a 3:42.69.
“Mixing it up on the relays is fun — it makes things a lot more competitive in our program,” Monobe said. “It was fun to see Ellie Hendren step up under the pressure of going against veteran senior Sammie Slater anchoring at the end.”
As a team, Pepperdine won the meet 187-47. The meet did not feature any diving events.
NEXT UP: The Waves meet the Warriors again on Saturday, Feb. 20 — but this time as visitors against host team Loyola Marymount. The meet is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m.
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