2016 NAIA Women’s Nationals – Day 2 Ups/Downs

2016 NAIA National Championships – Women’s Meet

• Dates: Wednesday, March 2 – Saturday, March 5, 2016; prelims 9 am, finals 5 pm
• Location: Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Oklahoma Baptist University (results)
• Live Results: Available here
• Live Video: Available here
• Championship Central

Olivet Nazarene continued to outperform the psych sheet during the morning session of Day Two at the 2016 NAIA Women’s National Championships, picking up approximately 63 points. SCAD Savannah women had a good morning, sliding a couple extra swimmers in tonight’s A finals. Columbia College and Thomas University had strong prelims swims as well.

200 Free Relay – Prelims

1. Olivet Nazarene 1:36.24
2. SCAD Savannah 1:37.04
3. Biola 1:37.37

Andrea Vega (23.92), Amanda Moran (24.23), Deirdre Gerke (23.87), and Kelsey Weener (24.22) combined for 1:36.24 to lead the morning qualifiers in the women’s 200 free relay. SCAD Savannah clocked a 1:37.04 and will be in lane 5 tonight, while Biola’s 1:37.37 qualifies them for lane 3.

Joining these three in the A final will be Cumberlands (1:37.73), Wayland Baptist (1:38.19), College of Idaho (1:39.09), Lindsey Wilson (1:39.10), and Brenau (1:39.17).

400 Individual Medley – Prelims

1. Tiffany Ray, ONU 4:28.78
2. Rebecca Justus, SCAD 4:30.63
3. Courtney Hayward, Brenau 4:31.91

Tiffany Ray of ONU, who won the 200 IM final last night, posted the morning’s top time in the 400 IM with 4:28.78, a 9-second improvement from her seed time. SCAD sophomore Rebecca Justus was the second-fastest of the morning with 4:30.63. Top-seeded Courtney Hayward of Brenau went 4:31.91 to make it back third.

The rest of the championship final will consist of ONU junior Hayley Ronci (4:34.78), Biola senior Abby Blake (4:35.31), Cumberlands freshman Christina Klouda (4:37.33), junior Madison Osterlund of Thomas (4:38.40), and senior Emma McKinley of SCAD (4:39.22).

100 Butterfly – Prelims

1. Lisa Tixier, Biola 56.25
2. Amanda Moran, ONU 56.85
3. Heather Partlow, SCAD Savannah 57.40

The 100 fly was a big event for SCAD Savannah, who managed to place four swimmers in the A final. The top performance of the morning, however, came from Biola sophomore Lisa Tixier (56.25). ONU sophomore Amanda Moran dropped 1.1 to qualified second in 56.85, while SCAD senior Heather Partlow dropped nearly 2 to come in third with 57.40 just ahead of classmate Hannah Legg (57.50).

Lindsey Wilson’s Laura Stephenson hit the wall in 57.66 to make it back fifth; she was followed by Brenau sophomore Alisha Hodgetts (58.17), SCAD sophomore Cadie Crow (58.29), and SCAD freshman Julie Henninger (58.79).

200 Freestyle – Prelims

1. Abigail Richey, SCAD, 1:51.57
2. Caroline Lepesant, SCAD Savannah 1:53.99 and Haley Thompson, SCAD Savannah 1:53.99

SCAD Savannah had another strong prelims in the 200 free, again earning four lanes for the A final. Freshman Abigail Richey went 1:51.57 to claim the top spot. Senior classmates Caroline Lepesant and Haley Thompson each went 1:53.99 in separate prelims heats to tie for second. Junior Meagan McManus clocked a best-by-4.7 to make it back sixth.

Joining the Bees in the championship will be Cumberlands Brittan Litke (1:54.54), McKayla Stevens from College of Idaho (1:54.77), Lindenwood freshman Simone de Rijcke (1:55.88), and Brenau sophomore Ella Kleineschmidt (1:56.09).

100 Breaststroke – Prelims

1. Ronni Borders, Lindsey Wilson 1:04.29
2. Andrea Vega, ONU 1:04.91
3. Christina Ali, Biola 1:05.10

Lindsey Wilson’s Ronni Borders paced the morning session in the 100 breast, going 1:04.29. Andrea Vega, a freshman from ONU, was second in 1:04.91, just ahead of Biola junior Christina Ali (1:05.10). WVU Tech sophomore Kenra Monnin went 1:05.83 for fourth. Other A finalists will include SCAD sophomore Alle Ragland (1:06.28), Wayland Baptist freshman Deandre Small (1:06.49), Columbia College sophomore Safiy Abdullah (1:06.70), and her freshman teammate Cassie Adams (1:07.07).

100 Backstroke – Prelims

1. Kandes Soapes, SCAD Savannah 56.14
2. Amanda Moran, ONU 56.37
3. Lindsay Dowling, Brenau 57.75

SCAD freshman Kandes Soapes improved her seed time by .66 and led the morning qualifiers in the women’s 100 back. ONU sophomore Amanda Moran qualified second with 56.37. Brenau freshman Lindsay Dowling (57.75) came in just ahead of Xiomara Getrouw of St. Andrews (57.90). Joining the top four in the A final will be Julie Henninger of SCAD (58.34), her teammate Julie Woody (58.43), Deirdre Gerke of ONU (58.78), and Lindsey Wilson’s Lena Nikolaeva (58.84).

400 Medley Relay – Prelims

1. Olivet Nazarene 3:54.95
2. Brenau 3:56.15
3. Biola 3:56.23

ONU’s Ray (58.56), Vega (1:04.99), Whitney Whitehead (59.22), and Gerke (52.18) earned the right to swim in lane 4 in the championship final with their top morning swim of 3:54.95. A slew of teams followed closely, including Brenau (3:56.15), Biola (3:56.23), SCAD Savannah (3:56.31), Lindsey Wilson (3:57.26), Cumberlands (3:58.28), WVU Tech (4:02.37), and Columbia College (4:03.39).

Ups/Downs – Day Two

“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.”