ROCHESTER, Minn.  Western Colorado finished off the opening day of the Rochester Invitational on Thursday with an individual event winner and fourth place in the team standings.

After earning a sixth place in the first event of Thursday's championship session, in the 200-yard medley relay, the Mountaineers earned their first individual title of the Invite in the next event as Morgan Nielsen captured first place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5 minutes, 4.14 seconds.

Western piled up points in the event as Agnieszka Rudomina (5:09.78) improved four spots from the morning prelims to take fourth place, while Brionna Thomas (5:14.65) was sixth and Sophia Del Rosario (5:17.46) placed eighth.

The 200 individual medley produced points for the Mountaineers from the B and C consolation heats, beginning with Ella Fries winning the B final to place ninth in a time of 2:11.60, and Kylee Ruhser (2:13.41) placind 11th overall. Demi Blaylock (2:14.11) added points from the C final with her 19th place in the event.

Anna Jorstad was the lone qualifier into the evening in the 50 freestyle, placing 16th overall with her time of 24.72 seconds.

The final individual event of the session saw Western swimmers in the championship final of the 100 butterfly, as well as in the B and C consolation finals.

Joanna Swiderska swam to a fifth place finish in the championship heat, touching in a time of 58.03. Adessa Talbot (59.99) would place 13th from the B final, and Jaylen Lembas (59.59) and Danika Lambert (59.62) would finish in 17th and 18th place, respectively, from the C final.

Day 2 of the Invite continues Friday at 8 a.m. MT with preliminary heats, with the evening's championship session scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. MT.

PRELIMINARIES RECAP
The opening session of the three-day Rochester Invitational concluded Thursday morning, with five Western Colorado swimmers advancing from the preliminary heats into the evening's championship heats of their events, and nine more advancing into the consolation heats.

Thirty-two swimmers from the prelims move on to the evening session with the top eight swimming in the championship heat, the next 16 competing in the scored B and C consolation heats, and the final eight swimming in the non-scored D consolation heat.

500-yard freestyle: Mountaineers swimmers will compose half of the championship final, led by top seed Morgan Nielsen, who posted a prelims time of 5 minutes, 6.40 seconds. She'll be joined in the final by fifth-seed Brionna Thomas (5:14.07), sixth-seeded Sophia Del Rosario (5:16.24) and No. 8 seed Agnieszka Rudomina (5:16.63).

200 individual medley: Both Ella Fries (9th, 2:12.24) and Kylee Ruhser (11th, 2:13.35) are in the B consolation final, with Demi Blaylock (21st, 2:15.16) in the C final.

50 freestyle: Western's Anna Jorstad was just 2/100ths of a second of her career best time, touching the pad in 24.61 seconds to earn 14th place and a spot in the B final.

100 butterfly: Joanna Swiderska will carry the flag for Western in the championship final, entering as the third seed after her morning swim of 57.38 seconds. Adessa Talbot (16th, 59.93) will compete for points in the B final, and Danika Lambert (18th, 1:00.12) and Jaylen Lembas (19th,1:00.13) will swim in the C final.

The prelims session also included the 3-meter diving event, in which Western's Alexandra Wallis finished in 24th place with a score of 170.30.