STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific men's and women's swim team had a strong performance Saturday morning on the first day of its annual home invitational, the Pacific Invite, hosted at the Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Visiting teams Simon Fraser and Nevada offered thrilling competition for the Tigers, whose frequent top-finishing performance indicates a promising season is underway.

After the first day of the two-day event, the Pacific men's team leads Simon Fraser, 102-45. The event is scored as a dual meet. On the women's side, Nevada leads Pacific, 88-60, and leads Simon Fraser, 82-60. Simon Fraser has an 84-64 edge over Pacific. 
 
"We had some solid swims today," Head Coach Katelyne Herrington stated after the meet. "It took us a little while to get into it, but we had quality finishes after our first couple of races."
 
In the beginning stages of the meet, the women's team opened with a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, with a finishing time of 1:48.78 from sophomores Jordyn Gonzales, Paige Sondgeroth, Noemi Melendez, and Alexia Ferguson.
 
The men's team earned a first and second-place finish in the same event, with Leland Baltazar, freshman Bridger Sink, sophomore Mitchell Hopper, and senior Dylan Parente taking the top spot with a time of 1:33.64. The team of junior Aidan Scott, junior Aidan Vollmar, senior Frankie Fitzpatrick, and junior Alex Kurotori followed behind with a second-place finish and a time of 1:35.77.
          
The Tigers placed third and fourth in the women's 100-yard backstroke, with finishing times of 58.92 from Freshman Diana Chan and 59.92 from Gonzales. The men followed with finishes in first and second in their 100-yard backstroke, at times 52.08 from Scott and 52.16 from Baltazar.
          
Sondgeroth of the Tigers placed third in the women's 100-yard breaststroke, with a time of 1:05.79, while the men had an impressive showing in the same event with top finishes from Sink and senior AJ Dolan at times of 57.47 and 59.17, respectively.
 
The women took fourth through sixth place in the women's 200-yard freestyle, with top finishing times from sophomores Jadyn Phillips and Ferguson. The duo earned third and fourth-place finishes, within a second of each other, at times 1:57.45 and 1:57.88, respectively.
 
The men took first, second, and third place in the 200-yard freestyle, with top finishing times of 1:42.86 from Kurotori, 1:43.22 from freshman Ethan Cole, and 1:43.84 from Vollmar.
 
Sophomore Ellie Macphail took first place in the women's 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:40:91, and freshman Annelise Thomas followed her in third place just over 4 seconds later, with a time of 4:45.11. Senior Jonathan Tan finished first in the men's 400-yard individual medley, with a time of 4:15:07.
 
Ferguson finished seventh in the women's 50-yard freestyle, with a time of 24.64. Parente led the men's 50-yard freestyle with a finishing time of 20.54, followed by Fitzpatrick with a time of 21.15, and Hopper with a time of 21.40.
          
Melendez led the women's 200-yard butterfly with a finishing time of 2:12.16, and senior Nalex Young fell just short of Simon Fraser's Channah Yip in the Men's 200-yard butterfly, placing second with a time of 1:58.88.
          
The women's team finished with a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:37.13 from Sondgeroth, Ferguson, Phillips, and Melendez.
 
The men's team ended the day on a high note, taking first and third in their 400-yard freestyle relay. Parente, Fitzpatrick, Hopper, and Kurotori earned a first-place finishing time of 3:06.84. In contrast, a third-place finishing time of 3:17.03 from freshmen Gabe Windmiller, Cole, Matt Honeck, and junior Aidan Vulgas rounded out the field.
 
Pacific returns to the pool tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 2, as the Tigers finish up the Pacific Invite against Simon Fraser and Nevada.