SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls 400 yard Medley Relay team of
Cassie Wright,
Chantal Kasch,
Giulia Marcon and
Ella Johnson set a NSIC Championships record and posted an NCAA 'B' cut time to highlight day two of the NSIC Swimming and Diving Championships. The competition will continue on Friday at 10 a.m.
After the second day of competition including the diving portion, USF, which is serving as the host school for the championships, sits in fourth on the team leader board with 261 total points. Minnesota State leads the competition with 450 points, St. Cloud is second with 445, and Augustana is just ahead of USF with 269.5 points through the two days.
USF was led by the 400 yard Medley relay team of Wright, Kasch, Johnson and Marcon as they took the top spot with a school and NSIC Championship record time of 3:45.23. The USF squad beat the second place team from MSU (3:48.11) by almost three seconds. USF's time ranks fourth in NCAA DII.
Cassie Wright's leadoff leg in the 100 backstroke of :53.7 ranks her third in DII.
Johnson, a freshman from Southport England, was part of two-record setting performances. Not only did she help the 400 medley to their record performance, she also won the 100 butterfly with a school record clocking and NCAA 'B' cut time of 55.02. Johnson beat her prelim mark of 55.91 by almost one full second. Johnson edged out U-Mary swimmer Abbey Zajdzinski who came in second after posting a 55.17 finals result. In that same race
Keelin O'Connor had her personal-best and finished 11th by
Gigi Bario was 15th.
The 200 freestyle relay team of
Jenna Krahn,
Elizabeth Spaans,
Leah Eagleton and
Giulia Marcon finished second with a season-best clocking of 1:34.48. St. Cloud State's relay team took first in the event after posting a 1:34.09 mark.
Sophomore
Giulia Marcon swam the 200 free in 1:52.47, which was good for third. U-Mary swimmer Victoria Murillo was first (1:50.90) while SCSU's Christina Ware was in second with a 1:52.14 clocking. Also for USF,
Nina Groene was 11th and
Leah Eagleton, 13th.
USF sophomore Lizzie Spaans took seventh in the 400 IM with a 4:39.77 posting.
USF will resume action tomorrow morning with the preliminary swims beginning at 10 a.m., at the Midco Aquatic Center.
