The Seattle University women’s swim team added more marks into the program’s all-time top times lists as it began competition Friday at the 66th annual Husky Invitational, hosted by the Husky Swimming Foundation at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
Madi Lydig (Spokane, Wash.) finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle in 5:04.63, at that point the third-best time on the Redhawk top ten list. Lydig won the “B” final in the evening by posting a mark of 5:02.35, moving into second place on the Seattle U top times list in the 500 freestyle.
Also in the 500 freestyle, Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) cut three seconds off her preliminary time of 5:08.52 in the finals, finishing third in the “B” final in 5:05.49, moving into fifth place on the school’s all-time list. Kristin Hoffman (Mercer Island, Wash.) finished 31st in the preliminaries in 5:13.46, Allie McGavock (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) finished 42nd in 5:14.45, Emma Foster (Clancy, Mont.) finished 45th in 5:15.42, and Sidney Pinger (Tualatin, Ore.) finished in 60th place in 5:18.39.
The quartet of Stephanie Bayless (Spokane, Wash.), Paige Treff (Orland, Calif.), Hoffman, and Melissa Randolf (Everett, Wash.) finished in 13th place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.27, the 10th-best time on the Redhawk all-time list in the event.
Individually, Treff finished third in the “B” final of the 50 freestyle in 24.22 seconds, moving into fourth on the Redhawk top times list. In the “E” final, Wittenauer-Lee finished fourth in 24.66 seconds, and Randolf finished seventh in 24.86 seconds. In the preliminaries, Hoffman posted a time of 25.01 seconds, followed by Bayless in 25.09 seconds and Pinger in 25.16 seconds.
The Redhawks wrapped up the night by finishing sixth in the 400 medley relay, as Lydig, Wittenauer-Lee, Randolf, and Hoffman combined for a time of 3:55.82, now seventh on the Seattle U top times list in the event. The women collected 128 points during the first day of the meet, helping Seattle U move into fifth place in the combined standings.
“There was great stuff all day, especially from our new swimmers like Madi and Paige,” Seattle U head swimming coach Craig Nisgor said. “After training them hard, we gave them a short rest, and they have responded well so far.”
The second day of the Husky Invitational takes place Saturday, Dec. 6, with the preliminaries scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by the finals at 6 p.m.