LOS ANGELES – With eight wins and 24 total top-three finishes, San Diego swimming won the 2020 WCC Cup against Pepperdine and LMU over the weekend in Los Angeles. The Toreros finished with 363.5 points to Pepperdine's 286.5 and LMU's 171.
 
Sophomore Alexa Phillips helped power the Toreros with two first-place finishes while freshman Callie Johnson won 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.50) and finished second in the 400-yard IM and 200-yard breaststroke.
 
Phillips and Johnson also helped USD bring home first place in the 200-yard and 400-yard IM Relay.
 
Other top finishes by the Toreros included freshman Sam Eason in the 100-yard butterfly (59.22), sophomore Sabrina Firnett in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:27.63), and junior Maeve Murdoch in the 200-yard butterfly (2:10.05).
 
The Toreros finished day one strong by ending it with a 15-point advantage thanks to a one-two finish by Phillips (24.39) and sophomore Haley Ohlson (25.07) in the 50-yard freestyle. In total, USD captured 23.5 points in the penultimate race of day one.
 
In the last event of the first day, the USD relay teams earned second and third of the 800-yard freestyle to match Pepperdine in points (26) after the Waves finished first and fifth.
 
After a second and third finish in the first event of day two – the 200-yard freestyle relay – Eason (59.22) edged out LMU's Mikayla Tseng (59.39) in the 100-yard butterfly by 11 hundredths of a second for first place. Murdoch was closely behind with a time of 59.61 to finish third.
 
The close win by Eason was not the only narrow victory by the Toreros on day two as Phillips won the 100-yard freestyle by 13 hundredths of a second, swimming 53.65 in the finals. She was ahead of second-place Nohea Lileikis of Pepperdine (53.78) and three Waves swimmers altogether who captured second through fourth place.
 
The Toreros earned big points in several races throughout day two. USD had 25 points each in the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard butterfly while also capturing 21 in the 1,650-yard freestyle. In the long distance race, Anna Luckenbach, Sam Terranova and Rachael Tucker finished second, third and fourth, respectively. Abby Blackford also contributed three points with her sixth place finish.
 
After entering the 200-yard freestyle relay with the best seed time (1:34.87), USD closely finished runner-up in the finals. The group of Phillips, Hannah Hudson, Parker Henry and Haley Ohlson swam a time of 1:39.58 – just four hundredths of a second behind Pepperdine's A relay team that finished at 1:39.54. The B team of Taylor Doherty, Sarah Pacelli, Eason and Murdoch finished less than two seconds behind the battle of first place to finish third and help give the Toreros 26 points in the race, which was only two less than Pepperdine.
 
The Toreros return to the water on Friday with a conference matchup at SDSU.
 
 
2020 WCC Cup
Final Team Scores
1. USD, 363.5
2. Pepperdine, 286.5
3. LMU, 171
 
Day 1
Event 1 – 200 Yard IM Relay
1. USD A – 1:48.42
2. Pepperdine A – 1:48.92
3. Pepperdine B – 1:51.52
4. USD B – 1:51.66
 
 
Event 2 – 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Lanna Kozlowski, LMU – 5:09.61
 
4. Maeve Murdoch – 5:16.08
5. Sam Eason – 5:20.10
6. Abby Blackford – 5:22.28
7. Samantha Terranova – 5:22.37
8. Rachael Tucker – 5:23.36
 
 
Event 3 – 200 Yard IM
1. Emily Morton, PEPP – 2:08.95
 
4. Abigail Russell – 2:14.98
5. Sabrina Firnett – 2:15.91
7. Gracie Marshall – 2:18.40
 
 
Event 4 – 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Alexa Phillips – 24.39
2. Haley Ohlson – 25.07
 
4. Hannah Hudson – 25.20
7. Parker Henry – 25.27
7. Taylor Doherty – 25.27
 
 
Event 5 – 800 Yard Freestyle
1. Pepperdine A – 7:56.08
2. USD A – 8:00.38
3. USD B – 8:05.68
 
 
Day 2
Event 6 – 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Pepperdine A – 1:39.54
2. USD A – 1:39.58
3. USD B – 1:41.04
 
 
Event 7 – 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Sam Eason – 59.22
2. Mikayla Tseng, LMU – 59.39
3. Maeve Murdoch – 59.61
 
8. Mia Shaeffer – 1:00.42
 
 
Event 8 – 400 Yard IM
1. Emily Morton, PEPP – 4:35.55
2. Callie Johnson – 4:43.48
 
4. Elena Elie – 4:47.23
7. Samantha Terranova – 4:54.48
 
 
Event 9 – 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Sammie Slater, PEPP – 1:56.21
 
4. Haley Ohlson – 2:00.30
6. Rachael Tucker – 2:03.20
7. Abby Blackford – 2:03.26
8. Anna Luckenbach – 2:30.30
 
 
Event 10 – 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Callie Johnson – 1:06.50
 
4. Gracie Marshall – 1:09.42
5. Elena Elie – 1:09.55
6. Sabrina Firnett – 1:10.10
 
 
Event 11 – 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Caroline Eckel, PEPP – 57.82
2. Hannah Hudson – 58.99
3. Taylor Doherty – 1:00.00
 
5. Parker Henry – 1:00.96
7. Lauren Quincy – 1:01.37
8. Alexa Phillips – 1:01.81
 
 
Event 12 – 400 Yard IM
1. USD A – 3:59.16
2. Pepperdine A – 3:59.69
3. Pepperdine B – 4:03.96
 
5. USD B – 4:05.57
 
 
Event 13 – 1650 Yard Freestyle
1. Lanna Kozlowski, LMU – 17:50.00
2. Anna Luckenbach – 18:16.36
3. Samantha Terranova – 18:38.24
4. Rachael Tucker – 18:46.55
 
6. Abby Blackford – 19:03.96
 
 
 
Event 14 – 200 Yard Backstroke
1. Emily Morton, PEPP – 2:07.56
2. Lauren Quincy – 2:08.53
3. Abigail Russell – 2:11.56
4. Haley Ohlson – 2:12.72
 
8. Parker Henry – 2:13.18
 
 
Event 15 – 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Alexa Phillips, USD – 53.65
2. Nohea Lileikis, PEPP – 53:78
3. Julianna Birlin, PEPP – 53:90
 
5. Hannah Hudson – 54:60
8. Taylor Doherty – 55:56
 
 
Event 16 – 200 Yard Breaststroke
1. Sabrina Firnett – 2:27.63
2. Callie Johnson – 2:28.04
 
5. Elena Elie – 2:29.02
6. Gracie Marshall – 2:31.26
7. Abigail Russell – 2:33.66
 
 
Event 17 – 200 Yard Butterfly
1. Maeve Murdoch – 2:10.05
2. Solaire Nazarenus-Olson – 2:10.66
3. Carolina Anderson, PEPP – 2:12.24
4. Sam Eason – 2:14.67
5. Mia Shaeffer – 2:15.20
 
 
Event 18 – 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Pepperdine A - 3:36.34
2. USD A – 3:39.93
 
5. USD B – 3:47.74