LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Pacific men's and women's swim teams completed their final day of racing at the UNLV Invite. The Tiger men and women each took fifth place, scoring 330 and 355 points respectively.
 
The morning prelims got the Tigers off on the right foot with all four women in the 100 IM improving significantly off their seeded times. Junior Paige Sondgeroth led them all with a 58.94, dropping 2.05 seconds. Junior Noemi Melendez followed suit with a 59.44, improving by 1.22 seconds. Junior Kelly Kermoian shaved a full 5.20 seconds off, clocking a 1:00.48. Freshman Amanda Schweichler improved by 1.26 seconds to earn a 1:02.67 finish. 
 
Junior Mitchell Hopper led the men's 100 IM for the Tigers with a 49.75, dropping nearly a quarter of a second off his seeded time. Senior Iona Pascual clocked a 53.62 after shaving 3.41 seconds off his seeded time.
 
Sophomore Diana Chan led the Tiger women in the 200 back, dropping 2.79 seconds to earn a 2:02.83. Junior Alexia Ferguson continued her stellar weekend of racing, improving to 51.55 in the 100 free prelim. Freshman Kate Geiger dropped 1.74 seconds in the 100 free to clock a 53.85.
 
Senior Aidan Vollmar finished with a 46.26 in the men's 100 free, shaving 2.09 seconds from his seeded time. Sophomore Gabe Windmiller also built off his seeded time, dropping 2.64 seconds to finish the sprint with a 47.78.
 
Senior Caitlin Tan took third in the 200 fly prelim, clocking a 2:04.94 to improve by 4.77 seconds. Melendez took the eighth best time of the 200 fly prelim, finishing at a 2:06.47.
 
Returning for the finals races on Tuesday night, the Tigers carried their momentum in from the morning. Starting with the 100 IM, Sondgeroth dropped over half a second to finish seventh with a 58.32. Melendez took eighth, finishing with a 59.88. Hopper took fourth in the men's 100 IM with a 49.72. 
 
Chan took fifth in the women's 200 back with a 2:05.38. Returning for the women's 100 free, Ferguson took seventh with a 51.41. Junior Jadyn Phillips dropped nearly a full second to clock a 52.39. Geiger saw more improvement in the final, earning 53.47 to improve by over a third of a second from her prelim time. 

Graduate student Dylan Parente finished in eighth with a 45.64 in the men's 100 free, while Vollmar swam a 46.07 to build off his prelim time.
 
Tan returned for the 200 fly, taking seventh place with a 2:09.65. Melendez finished in eighth with a 2:10.74, while junior Emma Hooper improved to a 2:11.24. 
 
The evening ended with the 400 free relays. All three women's relays saw significant time drops, with the Pacific A relay leading them all, finishing in fifth with a 3:26.58, dropping 2.15 seconds. The B relay dropped over six seconds to clock a 3:33.41, while the C relay improved by over eight seconds to finish with a 3:39.12. The men's A relay took sixth with a 2:59.69.
 
The Tigers return in the new year, with the men's team heading to Stanford on Jan. 12. Both the men and women return home to host Simon Fraser for their senior meet on Jan. 14 in Stockton, Calif. 
 
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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