On the first night of the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships, the Seattle University men's and women's swim teams broke their respective 800 freestyle relay records on their way to posting four top-three performances Wednesday evening at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.
The quartet of Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.), James Gilmore (Eugene, Ore.), Andrew Martinez (Concord, Calif.), and Joe Wertz (Richland, Wash.) won the conference title in the men's 800 freestyle relay in a school-record time of 6:48.32, over a second ahead of the second-place team from UC San Diego. Wednesday's time was over two seconds faster than the previous school standard of 6:50.43.
In the men's 200 medley relay, Bryson Chiu (Carmel, Ind.), Chris Lynch (Melbourne, Australia), Jordan Anderson (Newberg, Ore.), and Chris Fulton (Snohomish, Wash.) finished second with a season-best time of 1:31.90, just 49/100ths of a second behind the quartet of UC San Diego. After the two relays as well as a diving event, the Seattle University men sit in fifth place with 120 points.
On the women's side, the 800 freestyle relay school record was smashed by over nine seconds, as the team of Elizabeth Hanohano (Honolulu, Hawaii), Hanna Basler (El Cajon, Calif.), Kelsey Henan (Billings, Mont.), and Hayley Cobb (Irvine, Calif.) finished third in the race with a time of 7:40.60.
The 200 medley relay team also finished in third place, with Rachel Leighter (Eugene, Ore.), Alexis Morehouse (Vancouver, Wash.), Briley Boggs (Federal Way, Wash.), and Basler combining to post a time of 1:47.90. However, with a diving event taken into account, the women's team ended the first day in seventh place with 108 total points.
The PCSC Championships continue Thursday with the 500 freestyle, the 200 individual medley, the 50 freestyle, and the 200 freestyle relay.