OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Campbellsville University women's swimming sits tied for 17th place among 22 teams after its first day of competition at the NAIA Swimming & Diving Championships at the Oklahoma City Community College Natatorium. CU competed in three preliminary events Thursday morning and placed 16th in the 800-yard freestyle relay to earn its two team point.
CU added 1.99 to its seed time in the 800 free relay, but placed 16th with a time of 8:42.18. Jessica Cook swam the first 200 free in the 800 relay, with a time of 2:17.31. Emily Hunter followed in 2:14.57, and then Shelby Mattingly in 2:04.53. Bailey Foxworth anchored the relay with a split of 2:05.77.
The Lady Tigers started their day with the 200-yard medley relay and saw 4.23 second drop in time. Foxworth opened the relay with a 50-yard back stroke time of 30.67, followed by a 35.66 breast stroke from Hunter, a 28.50 butterfly from Jenna Rueff and a 50 free time of 24.77 by Mattingly. Combined, CU posted a total time of 1:59.60 but finished 19th, one spot better than its entry seed time of 2:03.83, but three spots and 2.16 seconds shy of earning team points in the Top 16.
Mattingly also competed in the 50 free competition and swam a 25.38, .11 higher than her season best, to finish 36th of 54 swimmers. Her 50 free split in the 200 medley relay would have placed her 24th in the 50 free prelims.
"It was great to see our 200 medley get under 2:00 today. They worked really well together, and overall today was a great start to the weekend," CU swim coach Casey Smith said. "Everyone has good attitudes, and we are excited for tomorrow."
While CU did not advance to Thursday night's finals for the events swam during the morning session, it will return to action Friday, March 7 at 10 a.m. CST/11 a.m. EST to compete in more preliminaries. The 200 free relay. will start the day for the Lady Tigers, who enter with a time of 1:45.78. Foxworth will compete in the 400 IM and Mattingly in the 200 free. CU will also swim the 400 medley relay with a time of 4:34.06. Finals for the events will begin at 6 p.m. CST/7 p.m. EST Friday night.
Competition will conclude Saturday with the 1650 free for Foxworth, 100 free for Mattingly and the 400 free relay.
To follow Campbellsville University women's swimming in the 34th annual NAIA Swimming National Championships, click here to visit the team's national tournament central.
