SAN DIEGO - San Diego swimming and diving opened its season with a 185-113 statement win over Pepperdine in its first dual meet of the year on Saturday afternoon. USD registered 11 first-place finishes in 16 events. 

In the first swimming event, USD came out strong with their 'A' squad relay finishing with a 1:47.49 in the 200-yard medley relay.  The 'A' relay consisted of junior Taylor Doherty, junior Kailyn Evans, junior Maeve Murdoch, and freshman Rachel Hubka.

Two underclassmen swam a sub-25 second 50-yard freestyle, freshman Rachel Hubka 24.28 and sophomore Alexa Phillips 24.97, to start off the season in a positive way and give the Toreros 13 out of a possible 19 points in the event.

Hubka finished in first place in all four of her events, including the 100-yard freestyle (53.47) and as part of the relay teams in the 400-yard freestyle and 200-yard IM.

"There were a lot of unknowns going into this meet because of all the freshmen, but it's great to open the dual meet season this way," said USD head coach Michael Keeler. 

Pepperdine and USD were neck and neck in the 400-freestyle relay, but the Toreros out touched the Waves to secure the win. USD 'A' squad consisting of – Hubka, Phillips, Murdoch, Evan – finished at 3:35.44.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Abigail Russell (59.67) finished eight hundredths of a second ahead of second-place Caroline Eckel to give USD a crucial nine points in the event. Three Toreros captured three of the top-four spots in the event.

In addition to the 11 first-place finishes, USD grabbed the top-two spots in five events (100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 50-yard free, 100-yard free, 200-yard breaststroke).

In the diving competition, sophomore Isabel Busyn took third place in the 1-meter dive with her scores of 206.40 and 152.55, while fellow sophomore Catherine McCarthy, took fourth place with her 201.07 and 139.28 dive scores. 

The Toreros next race against LMU on November 2.