WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- Lady Tiger swimming returned to the water Saturday at the University of the Cumberlands hoping to qualify a few more swimmers for the NAIA Championships in March. While CU fell short of adding any new qualifiers, two Lady Tiger relay teams continued to meet the NAIA qualifying standards.
Campbellsville posted a third-place time of 2:03:15 in the 200-yard medley relay and a first-place time of 1:50.40 in the 200-yard freestyle relay to requalify for nationals. Tori Reiss,
Brooke Cato and
Kathleen Ewing were members of both relay teams, with Catie Settler swimming the second leg on the medley team and
Ellen Hittson swimming the second leg on the freestyle team.
Meagan Pickett posted the only other first-place finish for CU with a time of 1:14.13 in the 100-yard breaststroke. Pickett bested her previous time by four-tenths of a second to meet the bonus standard for the NAIA championships, but needs to shave 1.54 seconds off the time to qualify for the NAIA event out-right. Catie Sattler was third in the breaststroke with a time of 1:29.74.
Reiss competed in two individual events, posting a time of 1:07.34 in the 100-yard backstroke, four seconds shy of the time needed to qualify for the NAIA championships. She also shaved two-tenths of a second off her 50-yard freestyle time, posting a time of 26.94, and is now only five-one hundredths of a second from meeting the NAIA's bonus qualifier time. Cato posted a time of 27.05 seconds in the 50-yard free.
In other events, Ewing posted a time of 1:07.82 in the 100-yard butterfly, four CU swimmers competed in the 100 free led by Cato (00:58.75), followed by Hittson (1:02.64), Carrie Wohlschlegel (1:05.65) and Ariana Johnson (1:27.01).
University of the Cumberlands qualified four individuals and two relay teams for the NAIA Championships.
CU returns to action Saturday, Feb. 19 with a time trial at home in the Powell Athletic Center.