Stockton, Calif. – In the first day of the 25th annual Pacific Invitational, the Pacific Tigers came away with wins in both women's relays. The Tigers ended the night in second in the women's competition and third in the men's through 16 events.
The night began with Pacific's team of Isabella Green, Semaj Walker, Kenna Ramey, and Vaiva Gimbutyte winning the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:44.78. The men almost matched that as Jared Vu, Yahav Shahaff, Stewart Harrison, and Mitchell Ongstad took third with a 1:31.91, just four-tenths of a second behind Air Force's winning time.
The women's 400 Free Relay team also won their event. That team, consisting of Gimbutyte, Ramey, Becca Aguilar, and Meredith Lillie, swam a 3:29.67 for the win.
Ongstad, Harrison, Miles MacKenzie, and Lane Goedhart swam a 3:04.38 in the men's 400 Free Relay to take third, just three seconds behind the leader.
Gimbutyte and Ramey also dominated in the 50 Free, taking first and second. Gimbutyte just barely beat out Ramey with a time of 23.72 to Ramey's 23.73. For the men, Ongstad came just five-hundredths of a second from the top three, taking fourth with his time of 20.88.
Curtis Klein had a great night as well with a third place finish in the 100 Back and a second place finish in the 200 Back. Klein swam a 51.23 in the 100 Back, then a 1:49.70 in the 200 Back. That backstroke time put him almost three seconds ahead of third place.
In the 200 Free, Jillian Hatch took second. Hatch, swimming in her first-ever home swim meet, put up a time of 1:53.29, eight-tenths of a second behind first place.
Whitney Jorgensen also had a second-place finish in the 400 IM when she swam a 4:29.83. Jorgensen was also a part of Pacific's fifth-place 400 Free Relay squad that finished six seconds behind the Tigers' winning squad.
The Pacific Invitational will resume tomorrow at 10:00 am.
Make sure to follow Pacific swimming on Twitter with the username @PacTigersH2O and on Instagram at pacificswimteam.
