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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After the first day of competition at the Volunteer Invitational, the Lady H₂Okies sit in first place while the No. 23 men are in third. No. 16 Alabama leads the men’s competition with 375.5 points, followed by No. 15 Tennessee with 280.5, No. 23 Virginia Tech with 230, and Kentucky with 159. The Lady H₂Okies lead the women's competition with 307 points, followed by the No. 11 Lady Vols with 296, the Wildcats with 246 and the Crimson Tide with 221.

After winning the preliminary round, junior Erika Hajnal earned the H₂Okies’ first title of the weekend in the 500 freestyle, finishing in a B-cut time of 4:44.02. Katarina Filova earned the bronze medal, swimming a B-cut time of 4:46.34, followed closely by Lauren Ritter in fourth at a B-cut time of 4:46.66.

Keri Sink jumped up to third place in the 200 IM, swimming it in 2:03.70, and Nathan Hoisington earned a silver medal for the men in the event, finishing in 1:50.80.

The H₂Okies won a pair of bronze diving medals, as Sarah Milton took third in the 3-meter springboard with a score of 273.95 and Logan Shinholser scored a 360.80 in the 1-meter.

The women opened the night with a third-place finish by Filova, Kaleigh Gomes, Heather Savage and Emily Ferguson in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome earned the H₂Okies’ first NCAA “B” cut in a relay, finishing in 1:32.69. The men’s “A” squads finished fourth in both the 200 free and the 400 medley relays, and the women struggled in the 400 medley relay, as the “A” squad got disqualified and the “B” squad took sixth.

The competition continues tomorrow with preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. and finals starting at 6 p.m.

For updates on Virginia Tech swimming & diving, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_SwimDive).