Eagles Complete Day One Of CCSA Championships
2/18/2015 8:29:00 PM | Swimming and Diving
Parsons, Lichtefeld, Thomas and Cortazzo Set School Record Set in 800 Free Relay
DAY ONE RESULTS
Athens, Ga. – The Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving team took to the Gabrielsen Natatorium pool Wednesday for Day One of the Coastal Carolina Swimming Association Championships. On opening evening, the finals were contested in the 200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay, and 3 Meter Diving. The Eagles set a school record in the 800 free, bettering the previous mark by more than 5 seconds.
"Setting a new school record is a huge momentum boost going in to tomorrow," said Head Coach Nate Kellogg. "In the 800 free, we had a junior leading off, and then 3 freshman, so it was a little bit of a gamble with the lineup but we are so proud of how they stepped up. It's not easy to be a freshman in that position, but we knew we could count of them and they did great. We knew a podium finish would be a challenge, so we are incredibly proud."
Erin Hembree and Chloe Cotter took to the diving well to open the meet in the 3-meter preliminaries. Hembree, seeded 9th, managed a 7th showing by scoring 208.50 points to qualify for the 3-meter Finals. Cotter finished 9th with a score of 157.0.
In the 200 Medley Relay, the "A" relay team of Christina Moran, Amber Cortazzo, Megan Heller, and Elaina Lanson finished 5th with a time of 1:43.04 to earn 50 points for the Eagles. The time was the fastest all season; besting the previous season best of 1:46.43 which was set in November, 2014. It was also just 3/10th of a second off the school record.
Commented Kellogg, "It was a great swim and so close to another school record that was set last year. Everybody swam really well. We would have liked to have placed a little bit better, but Elaina had the fastest split in the 50 free so it sets her up well for tomorrow's events."
In the 3-meter finals, Hembree found herself in 4th place after round one, and 5th after round two. All told, the freshman from Duluth, Ga. would finish in 8th place with a total of 220.10 points. Kali Lents from Incarnate Word won the event with a total of 304.60.
"I was really proud of Erin, she did the best inwards that I've ever seen her do, so it was great," said Diving Coach David Giambra. "Chloe and Erin both enjoy the 1 meter event better, so I'm really excited about tomorrow." Kellogg added, "I'm really proud of Erin being a freshman and performing like that, and Chloe being a diver for only 3 weeks with us and coming in and competing like that and doing well was great."
The 800 free relay team of Kylee Parsons, Madison Lichtefeld, Kaylyn Thomas, and Cortazzo touched 3rd with a school record time of 7:26.65. The previous mark of 7:31.77 was set a year ago at the Conference Championship.
The Eagles will return for Day Two action Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries in the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free, 1-meter diving, and 200 free relay. Finals of those same events will begin at 6 p.m. from the Gabrielsen Nataorium on the campus of the University of Georgia.
The CCSA is comprised of 11 schools on the women's side - Campbell, Florida Gulf Coast, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Howard, Incarnate Word, Liberty, North Carolina A&T, North Florida, UNC-Asheville and VMI.
Live meet results are available by visiting theccsa.com or by downloading the Meet Mobile app. In addition, fans are encouraged to Follow @gsathletics_SD for updates and pictures.
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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS or by visiting GSEagles.com.
Athens, Ga. – The Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving team took to the Gabrielsen Natatorium pool Wednesday for Day One of the Coastal Carolina Swimming Association Championships. On opening evening, the finals were contested in the 200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay, and 3 Meter Diving. The Eagles set a school record in the 800 free, bettering the previous mark by more than 5 seconds.
"Setting a new school record is a huge momentum boost going in to tomorrow," said Head Coach Nate Kellogg. "In the 800 free, we had a junior leading off, and then 3 freshman, so it was a little bit of a gamble with the lineup but we are so proud of how they stepped up. It's not easy to be a freshman in that position, but we knew we could count of them and they did great. We knew a podium finish would be a challenge, so we are incredibly proud."
Erin Hembree and Chloe Cotter took to the diving well to open the meet in the 3-meter preliminaries. Hembree, seeded 9th, managed a 7th showing by scoring 208.50 points to qualify for the 3-meter Finals. Cotter finished 9th with a score of 157.0.
In the 200 Medley Relay, the "A" relay team of Christina Moran, Amber Cortazzo, Megan Heller, and Elaina Lanson finished 5th with a time of 1:43.04 to earn 50 points for the Eagles. The time was the fastest all season; besting the previous season best of 1:46.43 which was set in November, 2014. It was also just 3/10th of a second off the school record.
Commented Kellogg, "It was a great swim and so close to another school record that was set last year. Everybody swam really well. We would have liked to have placed a little bit better, but Elaina had the fastest split in the 50 free so it sets her up well for tomorrow's events."
In the 3-meter finals, Hembree found herself in 4th place after round one, and 5th after round two. All told, the freshman from Duluth, Ga. would finish in 8th place with a total of 220.10 points. Kali Lents from Incarnate Word won the event with a total of 304.60.
"I was really proud of Erin, she did the best inwards that I've ever seen her do, so it was great," said Diving Coach David Giambra. "Chloe and Erin both enjoy the 1 meter event better, so I'm really excited about tomorrow." Kellogg added, "I'm really proud of Erin being a freshman and performing like that, and Chloe being a diver for only 3 weeks with us and coming in and competing like that and doing well was great."
The 800 free relay team of Kylee Parsons, Madison Lichtefeld, Kaylyn Thomas, and Cortazzo touched 3rd with a school record time of 7:26.65. The previous mark of 7:31.77 was set a year ago at the Conference Championship.
The Eagles will return for Day Two action Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries in the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free, 1-meter diving, and 200 free relay. Finals of those same events will begin at 6 p.m. from the Gabrielsen Nataorium on the campus of the University of Georgia.
The CCSA is comprised of 11 schools on the women's side - Campbell, Florida Gulf Coast, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Howard, Incarnate Word, Liberty, North Carolina A&T, North Florida, UNC-Asheville and VMI.
Live meet results are available by visiting theccsa.com or by downloading the Meet Mobile app. In addition, fans are encouraged to Follow @gsathletics_SD for updates and pictures.
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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS or by visiting GSEagles.com.
Players Mentioned
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Free/Fly
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Breast/Free/IM
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Free
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Free
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