Records are meant to be broken, and that’s exactly what happened Saturday night.

Three Bill Powell Natatorium records fell this weekend as the WKU swimming and diving team swept the three-day Hilltopper Invitational.

Sophomore Ashley Forsyth opened the final day by breaking her own record in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 16:55.18 — two seconds better than the 16:57.42 mark she set last year.

Sophomore Allie Duff also broke her own record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.88. Her previous time was 1:58.11.

The women’s 400 freestyle team also cracked by a record. The team — Duff, Hillary Mishler, Hannah Runyon-Hass and Michelle Craddock — crept by the previous time of 3:27.33 with a 3:27.24 run.

“We’ve been working really hard and we haven’t really taken a break,” coach Bruce Marchionda said. “For them to get up and break the number of pool records this weekend was really fun to see.”

The women’s team took first at the Invite with a total of 878.5 points. Second place went Vanderbilt with a final score of 783.5. The University of the Cumberlands finished third 321 and Sewanee finished up with 132.

The men’s team blew by the competition with a top score of 1021.  University of Cumberland took second with 493 and Sewanee finished with 313 points.

The three day event nearly mirrors what the Toppers will see during the conference championship.

“We’re using this as a rehearsal,” Marchionda said. “That’s going to help us come February.”

WKU will take a break for Thanksgiving but on November 29th will travel to Oxford, Ohio to compete in the Miami of Ohio Invite. The competition will be much stronger in Oxford, Marchionda said.

“They’re going to be a little less tired,” Marchionda said. “That week they come back, we won’t kill them like we did this week. So they should be prepared to swim a little better in Ohio.”