Diver Lauren Hall leads the Rainbow Wahine into their inaugural Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Swimming & Diving Championship this week. The University of Hawaii men are taking their second shot at an MPSF title this week.

Swimming opens Wednesday night with relays at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park. Diving begins Thursday at the Air Force Academy indoor facility in Colorado Springs. Both meets end Saturday. Diving’s Zone E meet will also be at the academy, March 14-16.

Brigham Young won the MPSF women’s and men’s titles last year. UC Santa Barbara has been second in the first two years of women’s competition, while 25th-ranked UNLV was men’s runner-up last year.

The rest of the MPSF swim programs are UC Davis, Wyoming, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Denver, San Diego, Pacific, Loyola Marymount, Air Force, North Dakota and Seattle.

Hall, a freshman from Georgia, is the MPSF’s top-ranked diver on the 1 meter and platform, and second on 3 meter. Her specialty is 1 meter, while teammate Aimee Harrison has excelled on 3 meters and Genevieve Bradley on platform. Harrison, also a freshman, arrived this semester from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Bradley is a junior from Colorado.

The Wahine also are counting on points from senior Rachel Cote and sophomore Jasmine Ahlkaldi, who swam for the Philippines at last year’s Olympics. Cote, a Punahou graduate, has the MPSF’s fastest time in the 50 free (23.02), with Ahlkaldi and junior Sofia Mustelin 2-3. Ahlkaldi has the best 100 time (49.49), followed again by Mustelin. Cote also has the fastest time in the 100 backstroke (54.08).

Senior Luke Hayes, from Australia, is the only UH diver in the men’s competition. He ranks in the top three at 1 and 3 meters this year and was in the top five on all three boards at last year’s MPSF championships, where the Warriors were fourth in their debut.

This year, senior Luca Mazzurana, an NCAA qualifier in 2011, has a shot in the 200 IM and 100 and 200 butterfly. Junior P.J. Gabayeron has the conference’s top time in the 200 breast (1:58.85) and Ryan Pickett in the 50 free (20.39). Senior Ruddy Kiessling, out of Punahou, anchors the sprint relay teams and freshman Kacy Johnson, out of ‘Iolani, could score in the 200 and 500 free and 200 fly. Brazilians Eduardo Guimaraes and Paulo dePaula have top-three potential.

The MPSF championship is the qualifying meet for the NCAA championships, next month in Indianapolis.