2015 NAIA National Championships – Women’s Meet
- Dates: Wednesday, March 4 – Saturday, March 7, 2015; prelims 9:00 am, finals 5:00 pm
- Location: Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, OK (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Oklahoma Baptist University (results)
- Live Results: Available
- Live Video: Available
- Championship Central
On Day Two of the 2015 NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships, Oklahoma Baptist continued to flex their muscle, staying above the fray in their quest for a third straight NAIA title. SCAD had a terrific morning, improving on their seedings in every individual event to move into a much stronger position as a hopeful for second place. Brenau, who was looking like they would present a serious challenge to SCAD, had a slightly weaker morning than expected. Cumberlands had the biggest pick-up of the prelims session, adding potential points in every event as well as both relays.
Ups/Downs – Day Two
| Team | A Final | B Final |
| SCAD Savannah | 8 | 6 |
| Oklahoma Baptist University | 8 | 5 |
| Brenau University | 7 | 3 |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 4 | 0 |
| University of the Cumberlands | 3 | 2 |
| Concordia University | 2 | 7 |
| Biola University | 2 | 4 |
| College of Idaho | 1 | 2 |
| Lindsey Wilson College | 1 | 1 |
| Union College | 1 | 1 |
| Columbia College | 1 | 0 |
| Thomas University | 1 | 0 |
| Wayland Baptist University | 1 | 0 |
| WVU Institute of Technology | 0 | 3 |
| Lindenwood University | 0 | 2 |
| Asbury University | 0 | 1 |
| Life University | 0 | 1 |
| St. Andrews University | 0 | 1 |
| Soka University | 0 | 1 |
200 Freestyle Relay
Given the championship final of the 50 free last night, with four Bison in the mix, it was no surprise that the top qualifier out of prelims for the 200 free relay would be OBU (1:34.61). ONU posted the second-fastest time (1:36.21), followed by Concordia (1:37.07), SCAD (1:37.22), Biola (1:37.81), Brenau (1:37.87), Cumberlands (1:38.24), and College of Idaho, who dropped 4.5 seconds to qualify eighth with 1:38.96.
400 IM
Charlotte Parent, of Cumberlands, who finished third in the 200 IM last night, dropped 2.3 from her seed time to secure lane 4 for tonight’s final with 4:29.90. Brenau’s Courtney Hayward, who won this event last year, qualified second in 4:31.24. Freshman Baliee Blankemeier of Concordia, runner-up in last night’s 500 free, qualified third in 4:31.69.
Biola’s Lisa Tixier, SCAD’s Rebecca Justus, ONU’s Tiffany Ray and Hayley Ronci, and Madison Osterlund, of Thomas University make up the rest of the A final qualifiers.
100 Butterfly
NAIA record-holder and defending champion Christine Tixier of Biola lowered her own 100 fly national record in prelims with 54.25. Freshman Alisha Hodgetts of Brenau put up the second-fastest time with 56.23. Heather Partlow of SCAD dropped over 2 seconds to qualify third for finals, going 57.16.
Michelle Billeaud of Brenau went 57.27, just ahead of Cadie Crow (57.58) of SCAD, Mikala Nelson (57.78) of Concordia, Laura Stephenson (57.95) of Lindsey Wilson, and Laura Winter (58.05) of Wayland Baptist.
200 Freestyle
Defending champion Laura Galarza of OBU had the fastest morning swim, going 1:52.19 ahead of ONU’s Eugenia Sebastiani (1:53.73), and McKayla Stevens of Idaho (1:54.15).
Shelby Rumker from Brenau (1:54.25), Haley Thompson of SCAD (1:54.44), Lexie Keller of OBU (1:54.82), Cumberlands’ Brittany Litke (1:55.04), and Samantha Benson of SCAD (1:55.66) round out tonight’s championship final.
100 Breaststroke
Defending champion Kerryn Mullin of OBU went nearly a second faster than her winning time last year to earn the middle lane in tonight’s final, with 1:03.42. Teammate Leslie White qualified second in 1:05.78. Brenau’s Mary Katherine Jabbia and Michelle Billeaud both went 1:06.35 to tie for third.
The rest of the A final will showcase Melissa Peplinski of Cumberlands, Jule Stein of Union College, Heather Partlow from SCAD, and Columbia College’s Safiyyah Abdullah.
100 Backstroke
Tammy Price of OBU (55.36) and Talia Sola of Brenau (55.37) led the field in the 100 back. OBU’s Ines Remersaro improved her seed time by 2 seconds to qualify third.
ONU’s MacKenzie Anderson (56.37), SCAD’s Hannah Legg (58.00) and Julie Woody (58.11), and OBU’s Faith Moss (58.65) and Alena Titenkova (58.73) will also contest the A final tonight.
400 Medley Relay
The medley relay should be an exciting finish to the Day Two finals tonight, with OBU (3:52.76), Cumberlands (3:52.95), Biola (3:54.80, Brenau (3:56.45), ONU (3:56.95), SCAD (3:58.94), Concordia (3:59.20), and College of Idaho (4:00.25) all qualifying for the A final.
Tonight’s finals session begins at 5 p.m. Central time.
Standings After Day One – Women
- Oklahoma Baptist University 195
- SCAD Savannah 137
- Brenau University 124
- Olivet Nazarene University 109
- University of the Cumberlands 102
- Biola University 101
- Concordia University Irvine 78
- The College of Idaho 59
- Union College 52
- Lindsey Wilson College 26
“The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a governing body of small athletics programs that are dedicated to character-driven intercollegiate athletics.
In 2000, the NAIA reaffirmed its purpose to enhance the character building aspects of sport. Through Champions of Character, the NAIA seeks to create an environment in which every student-athlete, coach, official and spectator is committed to the true spirit of competition through five core values.”
