SAN DIEGO – San Diego opened its 2018-19 season with its annual pentathlon event against San Diego State, dropping a 33-24 decision to the Aztecs Friday afternoon.
 
It was the first event of the season for both teams and gave each squad their first chance to compete in a variety of strokes in a competitive environment. The first five events of the day - 100 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 IM were combined to make up the pentathlon, with points being allotted accordingly. The meet concluded with a set of sprints followed by the 400 IM and 500 free.
 
Times for each individual from the first five events were combined and swimmers were ranked accordingly.
 
"It was great to see our 11 freshman compete in their first meet," said assistant coach Jaclyn Rosen. "The girls have only been practicing together for four days so the pentathlon was a great event to get them out of their comfort zone."
 
Dani Taylor was the top finisher in the pentathlon for USD with a time of 5:13.00 and Alex Hubel was close behind finishing in 5:14.44. Other top finishers for the Toreros were Mackenna Briggs (5:18.89) and Lillian Benwell (5:20.50).
 
USD had multiple impressive finished in the individual events. Taylor finished with the top time in the 50 free (24.65) and second in the 100 free (52.21). Hubel had two second place finishes among all swimmers in the 100 fly (55.94) and the 50 fly (26.29).
 
MK Clancy and Anna Luckenbach had quick finishes in the longer distances. Clancy placed third in the 400 IM with a time of 4:45.9. Luckenbach finished fourth in the 500 free with a time of 5:26.89
 
The Toreros return to their typical racing format next Saturday when they play host to Washington State at 11 a.m. (PT).