ATHENS, Ga. - A strong performance by the divers in the 1 Meter paced the Georgia Southern swimming and diving team on Friday's third day of action at the 2018 CCSA Championships as the Eagles remained in third place in the team standings.
The Eagles have 628 points after the third day of the Championships, with one day remaining on Saturday. Three-time defending champion Florida Gulf Coast (1152) takes over first place in the team standings, while Liberty (1078) is in second place, ahead of the Eagles. Incarnate Word (593.5) is in fourth, followed by Gardner-Webb (567) in fifth. Campbell (480), UNC Asheville (429), North Florida (199.5) and Howard (189) round out the team standings after Friday.
The preliminaries began at 10:00 a.m. with five individual swim events and the 1 meter diving. The highlight of the prelims was diver Sara Rogers, who had the second-best prelim score with 287.10 points, which is not only a Zone qualifying score, but the second-best performance by a Georgia Southern diver on the 1 Meter in school history.
The diving performance would only get better in the finals as three Eagles advanced to the final eight. Katie Knight (270.10) placed sixth with a career-best score, while Gretchen Mossburg (280.25) placed fourth, also with a career-best score. Sara Rogers placed third with a school-record 302.15 score, bettering the previous record of 300.40, set by Emma Weisel in 2016. All three finals performances were also Zone Qualifying scores.
"Our divers, as a whole, did amazing tonight," Head Diving Coach David Giambra said. "All five finished in the Top 10, with Sara Rogers headlining with a bronze medal finish while setting a school record. Sara, Gretchen and Katie all finished with Zone Qualifying scores. I'm extremely proud of all of them, and it was an amazing day as a coach to watch them perform."
The evening final swim session began with the 100 Butterfly, where Kaylyn Thomas swam a time of 56.09 to place 15th, leading Eagle swimmers in the event. Jessica Ware and Madison Sarantakos also earned points for the Eagles as they qualified for the finals.
Courtney Schaefer then paced the Eagles in the 400 IM, finishing 12th in a time of 4:29.74. Amber Cortazzo, Isabelle Bray and Klaudia Holt also advanced to the finals, earning points on the night.
The 200 Freestyle had Randi Kiser as the only Eagle qualifier for the finals, as she placed 20th in a time of 1:52.99.
The 100 Breaststroke saw Bre Stuart as the Eagles' top finisher in the finals, placing 16th in a time of 1:06.51. Mary James Coates also earned points for the Eagles by qualifying for the finals.
Anna Moers swam sixth to lead the Eagles in the 100 Backstroke, placing sixth in a time of 55.55. Mackenzie Brown and Elizabeth Chemey also qualified for the finals, scoring for Georgia Southern in the event on the night.
Wrapping up the swimming events, the GS 400 Medley relay team placed seventh with a time of 3:49.20.
Click here to view complete Day Three results from Friday.
The 2018 CCSA Championships concludes on Sunday with a packed schedule, beginning with preliminaries at 10 a.m. Platform diving, an exhibition event, will take place at 1 p.m., then finals will begin at 6 p.m.
