Florida Gulf Coast women are in first place with 544 points after the second day of the 2013 Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday at the University of Georgia Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Florida Gulf Coast (Emma Svensson, Dani Beaubrun, Eva Lehtonen and Megan Wolfe) set a meet and Conference record in the 200-medley relay, recording a time of 1:38.85 and qualifying for the NCAA “B” cuts. Georgia Southern (Christina Moran, Abbie Lavallin, Megan Heller and Elaina Lanson) finished in second with a time of 1:43.85, while Gardner-Webb (Laurenn Singleton, Charity Byrum, Giorgie Graves and Mary O’Doherty) captured third with a time of 1:43.98.
In the 400-IM, Julie Leth-Espensen of FGCU set a meet record with a time of 4:18.50. Coming in second-place was North Florida’s Sara Evans with a time of 4:22.58. Kylie Warne of Campbell recorded a time of 4:24.60 to finish in third.
Winning the 100-butterly was Liberty’s Jess Reinhardt. Her time of 53.18 set a meet and Conference record, while qualifying her for the NCAA “B” cuts. Liberty’s Bethany Wakeley captured second with a time of 54.72, and College of Charleston’s Jayme Groth finished third with a time of 55.48.
In the 200-free, FGCU’s Lehtonen and Jennifer Morgan posted times of 1:50.26 and 1:50.44 to finish first and second, respectively. There was a tie for third with Liberty’s Cori Gary and Georgia Southern’s Kylee Parsons both finishing with a time of 1:50.73.
Liberty’s Laura Day won the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:01.45, while Beaubrun recorded a time of 1:01.77 for second-place. Liberty’s Emilie Kaufman, who broke the meet and Conference record in prelims (1:01.04), finished in third with a time of 1:02.09. All three finalists qualified for NCAA “B” cuts.
Svensson of FGCU clocked a time of 53.11 in the 100-back, setting a meet and Conference record and qualifying her for NCAA “B” cuts. Liberty’s Brye Ravettine and Emily Duff finished second and third, with times of 55.68 and 55.72, respectively.
FGCU (Devon Robins, Cassie Niles, Jessie Porter and Morgan) posted a time of 7:25.84 to win the 800-free relay for the fifth consecutive year. Liberty (Duff, Gary, Wakeley and Kendall Hough) finished in second-place with a time of 7:27.97, and Davidson (Meredith Nakano, Angie Healy, Liz Mace and Jessica Miller) placed third with a time of 7:30.89.
After day two, Florida Gulf Coast tops the standings with 544 points. Liberty is in second with a score of 378 and Georgia Southern is third with 300.50 points. Gardner-Webb is fourth with 242 points, while North Florida is fifth with 226 points. College of Charleston is alone in sixth with 223.50 points and Davidson is in seventh with 190 points. Right behind is Campbell is eighth with 173 points and UNC Asheville is ninth with 88 points. Radford and Howard are 10th and 11th with 73 points and 60 points, respectively. VMI is 12th with 35 points and rounding out the standings is North Carolina A&T with 30 points.
The final day of the CCSA Championship will begin Saturday, Feb. 23 at 10:00 a.m., starting with the men’s 200-yard backstroke preliminaries. The event finals for day three twill start at 6:00 p.m.
