SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Concordia university Irvine women's swim and dive team returned to the pool on Saturday for its first official meet of the 2025-26 season.
The Golden Eagles competed in a tri-meet against Azusa Pacific and host Westmont College.
"Getting back in the pool for our first meet meant a lot to this team," said new CUI head swim & dive coach
Ryan Martines. "After everything they've been through these last few months, there was a real sense of gratitude just to be able to compete again. You could feel how proud they were to swim together after working so hard for this opportunity. The meet meant so much more than just racing, and the unity they brought to the deck made it really special."
Nine Golden Eagles made the trip to Santa Barbara and they were led by
Hannah Edwards, who placed second in the 50 yard freestyle. Edwards clocked a time of 25.45 seconds and saw her teammate
Lilly Hartwell touch the wall in 27.01. Edwards, who is a Utah native and also a key member of the CUI women's water polo team, also finished sixth in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 57.49 seconds.
Edwards and Hartwell also joined forces with
Alexandra Grant and
Aranza Martha to place fourth in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Martha started things off before giving way to Grant and Hartwell, while Edwards took the anchor leg to finish strong.
Another highlight was
Payton Doak finishing fourth in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:05.93 seconds.
Meanwhile,
Carissa Ward took fourth place in the 100 yard backstroke, coming in just a hair over one minute and three seconds.
Aliyah Treadwell also competed in the same race and placed eighth.
Ward and Treadwell teamed with
Makayla Novak and Doak for the 200 yard medley relay and finished in fifth place in that competition. New diver
Kaylee Hurley also made the trip to support her teammates but no diving results were recorded.
Westmont and Azusa Pacific compiled more points to defeat Concordia in their parts of the Tri-Meet. APU also topped Westmont 135-108 in their matchup.
CLICK HERE for full results from the Tri-Meet
SCHEDULE UPDATE (updated Dec 10th):
Looking to what lies ahead, CUI is slated to compete next on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026 at the PCSC Triple Distance Invitational. It will be Concordia's second competition of the season. Note: The scheduled tri-meet on Saturday, Dec. 13 against Bethel University and The Master's University has been canceled.
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI women's swim and dive schedule
