ST. GEORGE, Utah- The Pacific men's and women's swim teams maintained seventh and eighth place finishes respectively after the final day at the MPSF Championships. The Tigers garnered six major scoring opportunities in Saturday's finals, including contributions in the 1650 free and 400 free relays.

Senior Alex Kurotori (1:49.82) and junior Leland Baltazar (1:49.89) finished with two top-16 times in the 200 back prelim at the start of the day, while freshman Kyle Capili rounded out the 16 with a 1:52.40. Junior Mitchell Hopper finished with the eighth best time in Saturday mornings 100 free prelim, clocking a 43.89. Senior Dylan Parente moved to a 44.65 to finish with the 11th best time in the 100 free.

Senior Aidan Vollmar (2:01.50) and sophomore Ethan Cole (2:01.68) earned the 11th and 12th fastest 200 breast prelim times. Vollmar dropped over half a second off his entry time, while Cole shaved off nearly a full second.

Senior Caitlin Tan clocked the sixth fastest time (2:02.65) in Saturday morning's 200 fly, while junior Noemi Melendez earned 13th with a 2:06.91. Senior Aidan Scott moved to 11th in the 200 fly prelim with a 1:50.43.

Heading into the 400 free relays to finish off the morning, the Tiger women took seventh overall with a 3:26.65 behind juniors Paige Sondgeroth, Alexia Ferguson, Jadyn Phillips and senior Caitlin Tan. The men (Mitchell Hopper, Dylan Parente, Alex Kurotori and Aidan Vollmar) took seventh with a 2:57.79, dropping over half a second from their entry time. 

The 1650 free followed the relays on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Diana Chan finished in 15th to score for the Tigers.

Entering the finals, Baltazar finished 12th overall in the 200 back, clocking a 1:50.53, while Kurotori (1:50.73) and Capili (1:54.29) also scored from 12th and 16th respectively.

Hopper took third in the 100 free, dropping .35 of a second to finish with a 43.54. Parente also scored for the Tigers from 12th with a improved 44.75. Vollmar (2:01.48) and Cole (2:02.31) scored with the 11-12 punch in the 200 breast.

Tan finished fourth overall in the 200 fly with a 2:02.38, while Melendez improved by nearly two seconds from the morning to take 10th with a 2:04.99. Scott took 13th with a 1:50.48 to round out the day for the Tigers.

The women maintained eighth place, finishing similarly to a year prior, while the men took seventh.

Pacific returns for the National Invitational Championship the third weekend in March, with competition set from Thursday, March 14 thorugh Saturday, March 16.

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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