CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech swimming and diving kicked off the first day of the annual Virginia Tech Invitational Saturday evening as the H₂Okies welcomed the UNC Wilmington Seahawks and the Towson Tigers to the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

Gabrielle Bishop started things off for the H₂Okies, swimming her first B standard time of the season. The freshman came in at the 1:47.90 mark, a second faster than her preliminary time to set a qualifying standard.

Mackenzie Stewart picked up right where she left off from this morning in the 100 breaststroke. Although swimming faster in the morning session, the freshman took a time of 1:01.89 in the finals to collect her second B standard time of the day.

Junior Caroline Higgins shined in the 100 backstroke, as she touched the wall at the 55.01 mark for her first career B standard time.

Other event winners of the night for the women were Katie Gillespie winning the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.70 and Natalee Roseberry took the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.86.

On the men side, Kevin Hunt started the day off for Tech as he won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:38.27. Senior Adam Skipper was the first H₂Okie male to swim a B cut time tonight as he was the 100 breaststroke with a time of 54.67.

Freshman Drake Becksted was victorious in the 100 butterfly. He swam a time of 48.73 to win the event. Ben Munster capped off the night for Tech, as he swam a time of 4:33.06 to win the 500 freestyle.

Competition will start back up tomorrow with the preliminaries starting at 10 a.m., followed by the finals at 4 p.m.

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