ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia Southern swimming and diving team sits in second place after the first day of the 2018 CCSA Championships, hosted at the Gabrielson Natatorium on the campus of the University of Georgia on Wednesday.
The Eagles accumulated 203 points through the three events completed on Wednesday. Incarnate Word leads the Championships with 206 points, with three-time defending champion Florida Gulf Coast in third behind Georgia Southern with 190 points. Liberty (170) and Gardner-Webb (102) round out the top five, with Campbell (100) in sixth, UNC Asheville (94) seventh, Howard (54) eighth and North Florida (46) in ninth.
The day began with the preliminary 3 Meter diving, where three of the Eagles' five divers advanced to the finals on Wednesday night. Sara Rogers finished fourth in the preliminaries with 270 points, while Katie Knight placed fifth with 263.20 points and Gretchen Mossburg finished seventh with 250.55 points.
The evening finals began with the 800 Freestyle Relay, where the Eagles finished fourth with a time of 7:27.55, the fastest time for Georgia Southern in two years. Kaylyn Thomas swam the opening leg and set a new school record, swimming her 200Â in a time of 1:49.62, besting the previous record of Kylee Parsons (1:49.69), set in 2015. Courtney Schaefer (1:52.16), Rachel Pelzek (1:52.99) and Amber Cortazzo (1:52.78) swam the other legs for the Eagles.Â
The 3 Meter diving finals were next, where Katie Knight turned a season-best performance of 274.80 points to finish fourth. Sara Rogers finished fifth with a score of 272.40, while Gretchen Mossburg finished eighth with a score of 255.30.Â
Finishing off the night was the 200 Medley Relay, where the Eagles swam fifth in a time of 1:42.27.
"We got the meet started on the right foot tonight," Georgia Southern Head Coach Laura Thomas said. "I loved our team spirit, and the way we came out and attacked our races. Our divers also had a very strong showing today. Tonight gave us great momentum and set us up for lots of good performances for the rest of the week."
View complete Day One results of the 2018 CCSA Championships here.
Day two begins at 10 a.m. on Thursday with four swimming events - the 500 Freestyle, the 200 IM, the 50 Freestyle and the 200 Freestyle Relay. Finals in all events will begin at 6 p.m.
