MPSF Championships - Day 1 Results

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. -- A third-place finish in the 200 medley relay got the UC Davis women's swimming and diving team off to a strong start on Wednesday night, as the Aggies concluded day one of the 2017 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Calif.

UC Santa Barbara, which won the 200 medley relay in meet record time and finished second in the 800 free relay later in the night, leads the pack after day one with 74 points, edging second-place Hawai'i, which won the 800 free relay, by four points. Pacific, which finished second and fourth, respectively, is third, just four points clear of UC Davis.

Sophomore Solie Laughlin got the Aggies off to a good start with the fastest backstroke split of the night (25.25) to kick-off the 200 medley relay, but the Gauchos responded with the quickest breaststroke leg to make up the ground and closed things out to out-touch the Tigers by more than a second in a meet record time of 1:38.99. UC Davis touched in a season-best time of 1:40.61 -- less than two-tenths behind Pacific -- to challenge the school record (1:39.89) in the event set back in 2014.

Competing in the 800 free relay for only the second time this season, the Aggies shaved nearly 15 seconds off their only other performance of the year, touching in a time of 7:20.94 to finish fifth. The quartet of Mia Facey, Courtney Schultz, Iris Brand, and Kirsten Brand, progressively improved on each leg, with Kirsten Brand bringing it home with a split of 1:49.04. Facey's lead-off leg of 1:51.20 marked the fourth fastest 200 free time of the year and a season best for the sophomore be nearly two seconds.

Day two of the competition begins at 10 a.m. with the prelims of the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, and 1-meter diving. The finals in those events, plus the 200 free relay, begin at 6 p.m.

Links to live scoring and video of the championships are available on the women's swimming and diving schedule page at UCDavisAggies.com.

2017 MPSF SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Monterey Park, Calif. - East Los Angeles College
Feb. 15, 2017

(Winners plus UC Davis student-athletes)

TEAM SCORES (after day one - relay points only)
1. UC Santa Barbara - 74 points
2. Hawai'i - 70
3. Pacific - 64
4. UC DAVIS - 60
5. San Diego - 58
6. BYU - 54
7. Cal Poly - 48

WOMEN'S 200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY - 1. UC Santa Barbara "A" (Low, Quintana, Stevens, Mikota), 1:38.99; 3. UC Davis "A" (Solie Laughlin, Elise Roberts, Mia Facey, Kirsten Brand), 1:40.61.

WOMEN'S 800-YARD FREE RELAY - 1. Hawai'i "A" (Weidner, Djelic, Lindquist, Oestringer), 7:15.31; 5. UC Davis "A" (Mia Facey, Courtney Schultz, Iris Brand, Kirsten Brand).