LOS ANGELES, CA- During another rainy weekend in Southern California, the University of La Verne Swim and Dive Team competed against conference rivals Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental this Saturday morning. Although the Leopard Diving team did not participate this morning, the swim team laid out some stellar performances in the intense weather conditions.

Grace Tessitore started off the individual races with the longest race of the day; the 1000 Yard Freestyle. Averaging 35:00 and 36:00 in her 50 splits, she would place 5th overall in the event (12:08.81). 

The men seemed to find the strongest competition with themselves. As the Leopard Men constantly looked for their teammates on the block, Jaden Javier and Nathan West would compete in the 100 Yard Backstroke with Nathan (1:04.29) trailing Jaden (1:01.48) by only 3 seconds. 

The 100 Yard Breaststroke found similar results from the Leopards. Jake Gordon and Nico Eustaquio raced to the last 25 sprints with a mere 4-second difference to end the event. Jake to place 7th, 1:11.16 and Nico to place 8th, 1:16.27.

Asher Kocalis was one of the first Leopards to get some team points on the board after his 200 Yard Butterfly. With a 59.17 split, he finished strong in 3rd place with a 2:01.33.

The Leopard Freestyler, Cody Lehotsky had a big event win for the Leopards swimming a 22.39 in the Men's 50 Yard Freestyle, placing 2nd overall. Later, in the 100 Yard Freestyle, Cody Lehotsky would dominate, placing 4th overall with a time of 48.58.

To finish up the individual freestyle races, and as one of the youngest in her heat, 18-year-old Mahayla Reyes competed in the 500 Yard Freestyle, placing 5th overall with a time of 5:52.32. Asher Kocalis would also swim the 500 Yard Freestyle directly after to place 4th with a 4:58.31 time. 

The Swim and Dive team continues their conference season on January 28th against CMS and Cal Lutheran at 11:00 AM at the home of the Kingsmen and Regals.