Swimming and Diving in Fourth Place after Day One of CCSA Championships
2/22/2013 3:46:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
RESULTS: Results Day 1 (PDF)
STATS: Live Results
INFO: Championship Information
ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving team stands in fourth place after the first day of the CCSA Championships held at the University of Georgia's Gabrielsen Natatorium. The Eagles broke two school records, set 11 new personal bests and placed five individuals in the finals on a successful opening day.
"We had a really good day," said Head Coach Nate Kellogg. "We felt like we had a really strong day and put ourselves in a really good position."
The Eagles' performance was highlighted by Kylee Parsons' record breaking second place finish in the 500 Free finals. The swimmer already broke the school record in her preliminaries round when she placed first in her heat and second overall with a time of 4:55.83. She then proceeded to break her own brand new record again in the finals, finishing just behind FCGU's Evah Lehtonen with a time of 4:55.60.
"She had a really good race. It's something she's been preparing for all year and we knew it was certainly within reach. We are really happy with it. To finish second as a freshman is a pretty big deal and she is pretty fired up about it," Kellogg said.
The 200 Free Relay team added a school record of their own. Christina Moran, Parsons, White and Lanson teamed up to finish fifth, breaking the 2009 record with a time of 1:34.85.
Other finalists were junior Sara Meisenhelder and sophomore Brittany Swanson in the one-meter dive, sophomore Elaina Lanson in the 50 Free, and sophomore Amber Juncker in the 500 Free as well.
Meisenhelder earned a podium spot for her one-meter dive performance, placing third while scoring 257.15 points. Swanson qualified for her career first finals and made it worth it by setting a new personal best of 233.00, finishing eighth overall. Swanson set a new personal best of 244.15 during the qualification round.
Lanson finished sixth in the 500 Free final, touching the plate in 23.07, only .02 short of her personal best. Juncker swam her 500 Free final in 5:03.34.
The Eagles earned one more podium spot when the 400 Medley Relay team existing of Christina Moran, Abbie Lavallin, Megan Heller and Elaina Lanson claimed bronze in the last event of the day.
After day one, Florida Gulf Coast tops the standings with 245 points. Liberty is in second with a score of 182.50 and North Florida is third with 143 points. Georgia Southern follows close behind with 141 points.
"Tomorrow is a new day and we have a lot of our best events tomorrow so that will be a positive thing to focus on. Tomorrow is brand now and we'll have to do it all over again and have to prove ourselves again," said Kellogg.
The Championships continues Friday morning at 10 a.m. with the 200 Medley Relay preliminaries. The event finals will start at 6 p.m.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
Eagle Finals Results
200 Free Relay
5 Eagles 1:34.85 (Moran, Parsons, White, Lanson)
500 Free
2 Parsons, Kylee 4:55.60 (SR, PR)
8 Juncker, Amber 5:03.34
50 Free
6 Lanson, Elaina 23.07
1-Meter Dive
3 Meisenhelder, Sara 257.15
8 Swanson, Brittany 233.00
400 Medley Relay
3 Eagles 3:47.09 (Moran, Lavallin, Heller, Lanson)
Eagle Prelims Results
500 Free
2 Parsons, Kylee 4:55.83 (SR, PR)
5 Juncker, Amber 5:00.66
18 Babuka, Rikki 5:06.26 (PR)
36 Beasley, Meg 5:20.00
-- Rogers, Hannah X5:12.57
-- Humphries, Pirie X5:15.84
200 IM
15 Alves, Becca 2:08.12 (PR)
16 Ostrom, Megan 2:08.36 (PR)
-- Kelsch, Taylor X2:11.65 (PR)
-- Tallman, Amanda X2:14.59 (PR)
-- Filipov, Joann X2:15.10
50 Free
6 Lanson, Elaina 23.08
17 Moran, Christina J23.99 (PR)
21 White, Devan 24.18 (PR)
28 Heller, Megan 24.38 (PR)
-- Fell, Emily X25.21
-- Schmitz, Catie X26.34
1-Meter Dive
3 Meisenhelder, Sara 247.45
6 Swanson, Brittany 244.15
9 Weisel, Emma 233.80
-- Lynch, Alden X212.90
