The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) has announced the addition of the Pepperdine University Women’s Swimming and Diving team to the conference, beginning with the 2023-24 season. Located in Malibu, California and primarily affiliated with the West Coast Conference, Pepperdine has two other athletic programs which compete in the MPSF. The Waves’ Women’s Indoor Track & Field team just completed its first season in the conference, while the men’s volleyball program has been a member of the MPSF since the inaugural year of the conference in 1993. Pepperdine has been competing in women’s swimming and diving since 1985-86. The Waves have participated in all 37 Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference (PCSC) Championships, where they are coming off one of their most successful seasons in program history. They won their second consecutive PCSC team title, after finishing runner-up the previous three years. Throughout the 2022-23 season, Pepperdine broke eight school records and won 10 PCSC championship event titles. The squad finished its season in the National Invitational Championships.
“The MPSF is elated to have Pepperdine Women’s Swimming and Diving join the MPSF.” said MPSF Executive Director Foti Mellis. “The Waves come in at an extra exciting time, as 2024 will feature our second swim championship at Utah Tech’s incredible facility. After three decades of partnership with Pepperdine and its men’s volleyball team, plus the addition of its women’s indoor track and field team this last season, we are thrilled that schools like Pepperdine continue to see the value for their teams as members of the MPSF.”
The MPSF’s addition of Pepperdine comes one month following a historical conference championship, when the MPSF Swimming portion of the meet relocated to Utah Tech University in St. George, UT, marking the first time in its 13-year history the event was held outside California. Pepperdine Women’s Swimming & Diving represents the 15th team added across the entire MPSF since the arrival of Mellis less than two years ago on June 1, 2021.
The 2024 MPSF Championship is currently lined up for 17 teams--10 for women and seven for men across 10 universities from the Big West, West Coast, and Southland Conferences. Scheduled on the men’s side are Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Hawaii, Pacific, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of the Incarnate Word. The same schools will compete on the women’s side, in addition to Pepperdine, San Diego, and UC Davis.
“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join the MPSF,” said Ellie Monobe, who just finished her third season as Pepperdine Head Coach. “I am very familiar with the conference and have had a history of success amongst these competitors. I would like to thank Dr. Steve Potts and Pepperdine Athletics for helping our program get to this level of competition.” Monobe spent four years (2017-20) at UC Santa Barbara under then head coach Matt Macedo (now head coach at UC Davis). During Monobe’s tenure, the Gauchos won MPSF titles on the men’s side in 2017 and 2018, while the women turned in three second-place finishes.
Further MPSF Swimming & Diving information, including championship news from the recently completed 13th and next year’s 14th edition of the conference championships, can be found on the conference website
www.mpsports.org and
MPSF Swimming & Diving Championships - Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (mpsports.org)