Wayne State and Drury Lead After Day One

Women:
The women's meet is off to a blistering fast start as records fell today in the 200 IM, 50 free and 200 medley relay.  Wayne State holds a solid lead after day one with 114 points, Drury holds down second with 82.5, followed by UC San Diego with 74 and defending champions, Truman State and Ouachita Baptisit are battling for fourth and fifth place with 63 and 62 points respectfully.

1000 free: Ashley St. Andrew got Wayne State off to a a fast start.  Ashley led the race from start to finish to win in a time of 9:54.97.  Her steady consistent pace proved to be unbeatable as she was out in 4:56.97 and back in 4:58.0.  "I didn't expect to be in the lead at the half way point, from there I just pushed it home , hoping i wouldn't die."
Paulina Alexander of Incarnate Word University claimed second overall from the morning swims in a time of 10:01.41 and Erin Dolan, Drury University cruised to a third place finish in 10:02.48.

Wayne State opened up a commanding lead after the first event with 69 points, 50 points ahead of second place Drury.

200 IM: Kate Aherne bested her record setting morning swim by almost a full second going 2:00.61.  Aherne never led the race till the turn at the 175 mark.  By then she was in overdrive and raced home for the victory.  Aherne mentioned after the race "I knew that I could pour it on during the breastroke and then I thought to myself this better be my best freestyle split ever."
Yuan Qing Li of Drury finished in second place also in record time at 2:01.19 and UCSD's Alex Henley took home the bronze with a time of 2:01.79.

50 Free: Drury's Eunate Garro's touch was the difference.  Kate Aherne trying for back to back victories reached for the wall but Garro would not be denied as she out touched Aherne 22.80 to 22.81.  Although Eunate's time was .2 slower than the morning she still salvaged an individual gold and a meet record from the morning, 22.60.  Jackie Borkowski of West Chester finished a close third with a time of 22.89

200 Medley Relay: UC San Diego comes up with gold by .06, 1:42.56 to 1:42.62 over Wayne State after Drury's backstroke to breaststroke exchange was disqualified.  Ouachita Baptist filled in the void for third place, 1:43.27

Men:
Drury clings to a slim lead over Wayne State 101 to 98.5 through the completion of day one.  Men's meet records were broken in the 1000 free, 200 IM and the 200 medley relay.  Ouachita Baptist and Limestone are in a close battle for third with scores of 78 and 74.

1000 Free: Less than .8 seconds separated Mitch Snyder, Drury; Chris O'Linger, Tampa; Fernando Costa, Wayne State; and Kyrillo Fesenko, Drury; at the 500, but Mitch Snyder shifted gears and gradually pulled away negative splitting his swim, 4:29.60/4:27.46 for a meet record time of 8:57.06.  After Mitch, it was a race for second as O'Linger and Fesenko duked it out, but O'Linger blasted his last 50 split in 25.92 to earn silver with a time of 9:04.12.  Fesenko finished in third at 9:05.92.

200 IM: When a record setting breaststroker is in 2nd place at the midpoint of a 200 IM, well look out.  Aleksander Hetland of Tampa blasted a 30.61 breaststroke split to make the difference as Hetland won in record time of 1:46.03.  "The key was a well paced race," reflected Hetland, "getting home on the freestyle was definitely tough to do."  University of Indianapolis junior Manuel Stiem knocked off two seconds from his prelim swim to place second, also in record time at 1:47.09.  Drury's Jun Han Kim rounded out the top three with a time of 1:47.39.

50 Free: This was a lightening fast event starting with Craig Jordens eye popping .59 reaction time off the blocks.  Only .1 second separated the top four finishers.  This race defitely came down to the finish as both Majlat of Limestone and Dan Perdew of UC San Diego built momentum through the race, but Majlat's hand proved to be the quickest to the wall finishing in 19.63, followed closely by Perdew at 19.69, then Limestone 's Craig Jordens 19.72 over Radu Badalac of Ouachita Baptist, 19.73.

3 Meter Diving: Clarion dominated the 3 meter boards tonight with a 1st and 4th place finish.  Logan Pearsall's score of 504.25 proved to be enough for the win.  He was followed closely by Saint Cloud State's Nathan Jimerson score of 495.05.  Evan Betts of Grand Valley and Clarion's Clay Bowers finished 3rd and 4th in tonights diving action.

200 Medley Relay:  Oachita Baptist topped there morning record swim by .8 seconds to go a sensational 1:27.25.  Radu Badalac anchored the relay in 19.03.  Wayne State and Limestone College finsihed 2nd and 3rd in times of 1:27.97 and 1:28.33.  The finals found three teams disqualified; Tampa, Drury and UC San Diego.