Record-breaking performances propel team to historic conference championship victory
The Pepperdine Waves women’s swimming and diving team won a conference championship for third time in four years on Feb. 22.
The squad outswam and outdove three other teams in the pool at Utah Tech’s Human Performance Center in St. George, Utah, to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship.
Waves head coach Ellie Monobe said Pepperdine faced a lot of adversity throughout its four-month season and the championship victory is testament to the team’s leaders and captions phenomenal performances this season.
“What a way to end the season,” she said. “We left it all in the pool. The divers won the diving championship. The swimmers won the swimming championship, and Pepperdine got to walk away with the MPSF championship, the first in its history.”
This season was the Waves’ second year in the MPSF. Pepperdine previously competed in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference. The team won that conference’s championship in 2022 and 2023.
The Waves set five new school records in the pool at the four-day championship in Utah and claimed five MPSF event titles. Pepperdine also registered 43 top-eight finishes.
Sophomore Layla Busquets, junior Charli Sunahara, freshman Sophia Ware, and senior Alexandra Browne got the Waves off to a championship start the first day of the event. The swimming quartet won the 200-meter medley relay in a time of 1 minute, 41.84 seconds, which was a Pepperdine record in the event.
Also, on the first day, senior Lindsay Hemming, junior AJ Adams, junior Elliot Easton, and sophomore Ansley Halbach swam a time of 7:28.85 in the 800 free relay to grab second place. Their performance set a new Waves record.
Diver Vivian Vallely, a junior, won the 3-meter championship on the second day. She had a score of 270.45 in the event, the second-best score of a Pepperdine diver this season. Browne broke her previous school record in the 50-free relay with a time of 22.92, which placed her second in the event. Browne, Busquets, Hemming, and junior Anna Ryan took second with a time of 1:33.13, the fastest time by a Waves squad this season, in the 200 free relay.
Valley dove her way to the 1-meter championship with a score of 256.05, the best score by a Wave this season, on the championship’s third day. Swimmer Sopha Ware, a freshman, won the 100 fly in 54.70, which tied the Pepperdine record. Sophomore Ansley Halbach swam to the 400 IM title in 4:28.42, the fourth quickest time in Waves history.
Emme Spevak, a freshman, placed second in the 200 fly with a time of 2:05.53 on the last day of the event. Browne placed third in the 100 free with a time of 51.05 seconds, a school record. Halbach finished the 1650 free in 17:23.90 to claim third place and fourth fastest time in Waves history.
Pepperdine finished the swimming spectacle with 853 points. San Diego placed second with 841.50 points, whilePacific finished third with 706.50 points, and Incarnate Word finished fourth with 507 points.
Vallely will compete in the NCAA Zone diving competition in Federal Way, Washington, on March 10-12. Browne, Busquets, Halbach, Sunahara, and Ware will swim in the March 13-15 National Invitational Championship.