Athens, Ga. (TheCCSA.com) – The Florida Gulf Coast (FGCU) women’s swimming and diving team remains in first place with 1,188 points after the third day of competition at the 2016 CCSA Swimming and Diving Championship at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielson Natatorium.
Liberty is second with 944 points and Georgia Southern is third with 685 points. Gardner-Webb is fourth with 579 points, while Incarnate Word is fifth with 519 points. Campbell is in sixth with 469 points and UNC Asheville is in seventh with 323 points. Behind UNC Asheville is North Florida with 310 points and N.C. A&T is ninth with 145 points. VMI is in tenth place with 132 points, while Howard sits in eleventh with 127 points.
In the 400-yard individual medley, London Schumacher of Gardner-Webb took first place with a time of 4:15.38, while FGCU freshman Christina Elmgreen placed second in 4:16.73, both of whom made the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard. Elmgreen’s teammate, Barbara Caraballo, finished in third with a time of 4:20.48.
FGCU freshman, Fanny Teijonsalo, claimed first place in the 100-yard butterfly as she swam a 52.47. Gardner-Webb’s Giorgie Graves finished in second with a time of 53.94 and FGCU’s Yee Ching Wong recorded a time of 54.48 to notch third place. All three top-finishers eclipsed the NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 54.49.
Elise Haan of FGCU broke her own CCSA 200-yard freestyle record, which was set in preliminaries earlier this morning (1:46.91), with a time 1:46.20. The freshman surpassed former FGCU standout, Kira Toussaint, who set the all-time event record at the 2014 CCSA Championship. Haan’s time earned her a NCAA ‘B’ cut finish. Liberty’s Natalie Beale finished in second as she swam in 1:48.12, while FGCU’s Linda Shaw saw a time of 1:48.66 to claim third place.
FGCU’s Evita Leter touched the wall in 1:01.10 to grab a first another first place victory for the Eagles. Prudence Rooker of Liberty finished in second place with a time of 1:02.09, while Gardner-Webb sophomore, Lili Toth finished in 1:02.46. All three swimmers in Leter, Rooker and Toth made the NCAA ‘B’ list.
The 100-yard backstroke saw FGCU freshman Elise Haan take another first place victory in 52.08. Haan’s teammate, Katie Latham, placed second with a time of 53.94, while Liberty senior, Kendall Hough, finished in 54.11 to place third. Sandra Wilk of FGCU saw fourth with a time of 54.22 followed by Liberty’s Victoria Tschoke who swam in 54.75. Georgia Southern freshman, Mykala Arnold, took sixth place to round out the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard for the 100 backstroke.
Emma Weisel of Georgia Southern broke the 1-meter dive meet record set by Incarnate Word’s Kali Lents exactly one year ago from today. In the final round of the event, Weisel needed a score of nearly 57 points to claim first place; she scored 60.00 to claim victory with an overall score of 300.40. FGCU’s Mikaila Buening scored a 296.70 to place second, while Kimberly Foster of Incarnate saw third place with a score of 269.90.
FGCU continued to make history in the final event of the night in 400-yard medley relay. Elise Haan, Katie Armitage, Fanny Teijonsalo and Katie Latham broke FGCU’s own all-time record as they finished in 3:33.92. At the CCSA Championship last year, Kira Toussaint, Katie Armitage, Yee Ching Wong and Emma Svensson finished in 3:34.11. Liberty’s Victoria Tschoke, Prudence Rooker, Alicia Finnigan and Chelsea Pond saw second place with a time of 3:44.14, while Gardner-Webb’s Lili Toth, Whitney Peters, Giorgie Graves and Kelsey Williams placed third in 3:45.01.
The final day of competition for the CCSA Championship will continue on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 10:00 a.m., starting with the 200-yard backstroke preliminary. The event finals for day four will start at 6:00 p.m. beginning with the 1650-yard freestyle.
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