LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Pacific men's and women's swimming kicked off the first day of the three-day UNLV Invite in Las Vegas. The Tigers cruised through Sunday's ten finals events, with the men scoring 102 points and the women 77 on the first day.
 
Sunday started with prelims for six events, consisting of the 500 Free, 200 IM and 50 Free. Junior Jadyn Phillips jump started the morning clocking a 5:05.74 to lead the Tiger women. On the men's side, sophomore Ethan Cole came in at 4:37.13. 
 
Following with the 200 IM, junior Noemi Melendez improved to 2:09.38, dropping nearly a full second from her seeded time. Senior Aidan Scott clocked a 1:52.14 for the Tiger men.
 
Ten women raced in the 50 Free prelim, with half of them improving from their seeded times. Junior Paige Sondgeroth led them all with a 23.91. Melendez dropped nearly half a second, clocking a 24.40 (a new personal best), but senior June Akpata improved the most, moving to 25.33, dropping 1.44 seconds for a new personal best. Junior Emma Hooper also raced to a new personal best in the 50 Free, clocking 25.19, improving by nearly half a second.
 
Nine men raced in the 50 Free. Junior Mitchell Hopper led with a 20.45, finishing with the eighth best time of the morning. Three raced for new personal best times, with freshmen Kyle Capili and Julian Yuen improving to 21.53 and 22.46 respectively. Senior Aidan Vollmar also clocked a new best in the sprint, earning a 21.34 finish.
 
Sunday's finals started with the 200 Free Relay. The Pacific A women's relay clocked 1:34.80 to take fifth overall backed behind junior Alexia Ferguson's 23.18 split, while the Pacific B women's relay dropped over six seconds off their seeded time, finishing with 1:37.32. On the men's side, the Tiger A relay took fourth with 1:21.12.
 
Returning for the 500 Free final, Phillips led the women once more, improving to 5:03.24, dropping 2.5 seconds from the morning. She took 14th. Junior Ellie Macphail also saw significant improvement from the prelim, dropping 3.08 to finish at 5:09.98.
 
Cole returned for the men's 500, clocking 4:39.72. Scott went for a 1:53.26 in the men's 200 IM final.
 
Sondgeroth led the Pacific women once more in the 50, taking 16th with a 24.11. Hopper took eighth in the first heat with a 20.50 from the men's 50 Free. Graduate student Dylan Parente also earned a 20.50, dropping .19 of a second from the morning. 
 
The first day ended with the 400 Medley Relay. The Pacific A women's relay dropped 1.79 seconds to take seventh with a 3:48.23, capped by Ferguson's 50.25 100 Free split. The men's A relay took eighth with 3:18.17.
 
Both the men and women return tomorrow for another day of racing. Follow along on the Meet Mobile App. Prelims begin at 9:30 A.M. with the finals scheduled for 5 p.m. 
 
For all the latest on Pacific Swimming, be sure to follow the team on X (@uopswimanddive), Instagram (@pacific.swimming) and "like" the team's official Facebook page (Pacific Swimming and Diving).
 
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