HOUSTON- Idaho women's swimming and diving sits in fourth place after the first day of the Phill Hansel Invitational Thursday, thanks in large part to its diving contingent and three Vandals posting historic times in the 500-yard freestyle. The three-day, 10-team meet continues Friday, at the University of Houston.
 
"It's a very deep meet and different than what we will see at WAC," said head coach Mark Sowa. "We got less rest going into this meet than in years past and I like what we see so far. I think we will get better every session."
 
Leah Fisk recorded the fastest 500-yard freestyle of the day, just shy of her own school record. Fisk shaved nearly nine seconds off her time from prelims to win the E final in 4:56.85. Sarah Hall set a career-best 4:56.87 in prelims to qualify for the B final. Hall cracked five minutes again at night, taking 16th place overall. Emma Schlyter's 4:57.01 in the C final makes her the third-fastest Vandal in program history in the event and notched her a 21st-place overall finish.
 
Idaho divers Hailey Kessler, Janelle Lucas and Maren Seljevold finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively in the one-meter springboard event. Emi Smith added a 10th-place finish with a strong showing in the consolation finals. Kessler exploded in finals with a 257.90 to take third place, her first time leading the Vandals in an event this season. Lucas squeaked into the A final before where she improved on her prelim score by more than 30 points to take fourth at 248.50. Seljevold held on to fifth place by less than half a point with a 233.70 in the finals.
 
The diving event earned Idaho 95 points and catapulted the Vandals from ninth place to fourth in the team standings.
 
The top 40 swimmers from each individual event in prelims qualify for finals and the three fastest heats at night are scored. Idaho had two swimmers and four divers qualify for scoring heats on the first day, which also featured two relays. The Vandals took seventh in the 400-yard medley relay and ninth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time in the 200 freestyle relay was a half second slower than Idaho's fifth-place team in the same event at last season's WAC Championships.
 
Maryann Kok Cher Ling earned a second swim in the 50-yard freestyle. Kok claimed the 40th and final spot in prelims by one one-hundredth of a second, clocking a 24.23. She finished 38th in the finals.
 
Prelims begin Friday at 10 a.m. CT and finals will take place at 6 p.m. CT. Live results can be found HERE.
 
Team Scores Through Day One

1. Houston                               473.5
2. Rice                                        403.5
3. Tulane                                  277
4. Idaho                                    196
5. New Mexico                      192
6. Air Force                              188
7. Northern Colorado          176
8. Colorado State                  156
9. Vanderbilt                           153
10. North Texas                       54