LONG BEACH, Calif. - The first of three days of action at the Arena Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego, got underway Thursday with some of the top NCAA Division I swimming teams competing at Belmont Plaza Pool in Los Angeles County.

A total of 17 schools are competing in Long Beach, including defending women's national champion Cal, ranked second nationally, as well as seventh-ranked Stanford, No. 23 Arizona State and No. 25 UCLA. The Stanford men are ranked fourth in the nation.

The opening day consisted of preliminaries and finals in the 200 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley and the 50 freestyle on both the men's and women's sides.

UCSD posted a pair of qualifying NCAA B times on the day. Sophomore Nick Korth placed eighth in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.15, while the men's 400 medley relay team of Eric Owens, Korth, Adam Yen and Blake Langland finished second, combining for a 3:16.30 B cut.

The Triton men recorded two more impressive outings as the 200 free relay squad of Reid McCallum, Korth, Sam Stromberg and Langland tied for sixth in 1:22.57. Langland also swam a 20.67 to place eighth in the 50 free finals.

For the women, Alex Henley placed 10th in the 200 IM, just missing an NCAA B cut with a swim of 2:01.89. In the 400 medley relay, Henley, Emily Adamczyk, Jaclyn Amog and Anji Shakya recorded a 3:46.65 to end up in 10th.

Following the opening day of the event, Stanford leads the men's field followed by UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego. Stanford, Cal and San Diego State are 1-2-3 in the women's standings. UCSD is 11th.

Friday's events include the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 800 free relay. Prelims begin at 9:00 a.m. for the men and approximately 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. for the women. Finals get underway at approximately 6 p.m. from Belmont Plaza.

- UCSDtritons.com -