CLAREMONT, Calif. — The University of La Verne swimming and diving team opened up their 2017-18 campaign down the road at Pomona-Pitzer in the Pomona Pentathlon.

There is no team score for the event. Each swimmer participates in five events (100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, and 100 individual medley) and they are then ranked based on total time.

"We had a great first meet and raced very well," said La Verne swim and dive Head Coach Pat Skehan. "A lot of our swimmers got to swim events that they had never swum and so we saw a lot of new potential."

The women did especially well with senior captain Mary Hanna finishing third based on a second in the 100 IM with a time of 1:03.58, a new La Verne record, a second place finish in the 100 back (1:01.75), eighth in the 100 free (56.68), a ninth in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.33) and an eleventh place finish in the 100 fly (1:04.30).

Also with a strong opening meet on the women's side were senior Rachel Miyoga who finished eighth overall and junior Kayla Yip who finished ninth. Miyoga's best performance came in the 100 butterfly where she touched at 1:02.31. Yip's best event was also in the fly where she finished with a time of 1:01.15.

Rachel Fox had the sole win for the Leopards winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.37.

On the men's side, Lorenzo DeLeon led the way with a ninth place finish. His best was individual event was a ninth place finish in the 100 backstroke finishing at 56.62. Guillermo Yanes had the highest individual finish for the Leopards coming in eighth in the 100 breaststroke at 1:04.49.

"It was a great early season meet for us and we learned so much about the young group," said Skehan. 

Next Meet: The Leopards open up SCIAC competition on November 11, when face defending SCIAC Champions Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the road. Swim events begin at 10 a.m. with the dive competition beginning at 11 a.m.