Lexington, Va. -- The Southern Virginia University women's swim team began the 2022-23 season Friday evening, sweeping the meet against Virginia Wesleyan at the ROckbridge Aquatics Center.

In the first event of the meet, newcomer Kelsie Drennan gave the Knights an early lead with Rachel Draper extending the lead in the second leg of the 200-medley relay. Jamie Horne and Cenedra (Cece) Hooley closed out the relay for Southern Virginia with solid performances to win the race with a time of 1:55.87. The other team in the event, comprised of Kylie Echols, Emily Lesue, Kennedy White and Ellie Tomlinson came in third.

In the 200 free, Riley Mortenson got her first collegiate victory, ending with a time of 2:05.03. Teammates Kamryn Nye and Ellie Tomlinson would come in third and fourth.

The next event, the 50 backstroke, freshman Kylie Echols got an early lead with two Virginia Wesleyan swimmers right behind her. Echols would hold onto the lead to secure her first collegiate victory with a time of 31.54.

Rachel Draper got to the wall first after the opening 25 of the 50 breaststroke. Draper extended her lead in the next 25 to win the race, finishing in 34.13 seconds. Jamie Horne came in second, beating out two marlins as she stretched out at the end to beat out her opponent by one tenth of a second.

Kelsie Drennan got out to an early lead in the 100 butterfly and would extend it with a great turn. She would never look back, winning the race with a 1:01.15 time, breaking a Southern Virginia record. Teammate Emily Lesue came in third.

Cece Hooley won the next event, the 50 free, with a 27.04 time.

Southern Virginia would sweep the next event, the 100 freestyle. Jamie Horne got the edge in the first 25 with teammates Kylie Echols and Riley Mortenson right behind her. Horne would build on her lead in the last 50, reaching the wall in 56.04 seconds to secure the victory with Mortenson and Echols finishing in second and third respectively.

Kelsie Drennan got off her mark quickly in the 100 backstroke. Drennan would only build on her lead throughout the race to win with a 1:01.33 time. Fellow Knight, Sienna Christensen, would finish second.

In the 100 breaststroke, Rachel Draper would get to the wall first and would extend her lead every 25, winning with a time of 1:14.67. Teammate Emily Lesue beat out a Marlin swimmer by two tenths of a second to get third place.

Riley Mortenson was the only swimmer competing for Southern Virginia in the longest event of the competition, the 500 freestyle. Mortenson would beat out three swimmers from Virginia Wesleyan, winning by a margin of 1:22.25 to break a program record with her final time of 5:36.72.

Kelsie Drennan got off to an early lead in the next event, the 50 butterfly, and finished first with a 27.09 time to break her second school record of the evening. The Knights would sweep the event with Cece Hooley finishing second and Kamryn Nye finishing third.

In the 100 individual medley, Jamie Horne got the early lead with a great first 25 in the butterfly. Horne would build on the lead in the next leg, the backstroke. She had a solid performance in the next 25, the breaststroke, and finished out her IM with an impressive freestyle time to win the race with a 1:05.75.

In the final event of the evening, the 200 freestyle relay, Southern Virginia take home the victory. Kylie Echols got the team off to a great start and Rachel Draper put in a solid performance. Riley Mortenson built a lead in the third 50 and Cece Hooley would add to it to finish with a 1:48.31 time.

After her record-breaking performance, Kelsie Drennan said "it's always exciting to break a record. It was a great start to the season and is a great boost in confidence for the team."

"I love this women's team," exclaimed head coach Jennifer Moore following the meet. "It's fun to see this new group of incoming swimmers add to the group of strong returners to make our team even better this season. I'm proud of the way they raced. We've set a tone for the season that will build into more fast, fun swimming."

The Knights will have a three-week hiatus before they travel to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to take on the Bullets on Saturday, October 29.

For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's and women's swimming, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_swimming on Instagram.