For Franklin women's swimming and diving, the quest for a ninth consecutive HCAC championship is off to a good start.

The Griz women began the four-day meet with a convincing victory in the 800-yard freestyle relay, one that was matched by the men just moments later as both teams opened with extremely strong swims.

"That was an amazing evening!" Franklin coach Zach Rayce said. "We were faster than I could have imagined."

In the women's race, the Grizzlies led wire to wire, with Petal Sloan's opening split of 1:53.83 setting the pace. Macie McQuinn, Avery Tomlinson and Kat Lundy followed up and finished with a total time of 7:50.75, nearly 13 seconds ahead of the field.

Franklin's B team of Elizabeth McKittrick, Bri Gogis, Amelia Hlebak and Carly Houchin finished in 8:11.19, the third-fastest time.

The men were nearly as dominant, posting a time of 6:55.58 to touch the wall almost five seconds ahead of Rose-Hulman. The team of Isaac Layton, Sam Hittel, Kaden Cummins and Keaton Stephenson was incredibly well balanced, with all four registering split times between 1:43.53 and 1:44.22. Franklin's B quartet of Bryson Howe, Will Johnson, Christopher Mains and Nick Coy went 7:06.64, the fourth-fastest time.

Franklin's women finished the night with a 52-42 lead over the second-place Engineers. The Griz men ended the day in third behind Transylvania and Rose, which both picked up points in 3-meter diving.

The meet continues on Thursday with finals in the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays and women's 1-meter diving as well as the 50 and 500 freestyle and the 200 individual medley.