For the second consecutive night, the Seattle University women's swim team set a new school record in a relay event, this time breaking the 200 freestyle relay school record as competition continued Thursday in the 2013 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at The Aquatic Center at Palo Alto College.
Kevlyn Richards (Gig Harbor, Wash.) led off with the second-fastest 50 freestyle in school history, posting a split of 24.12 seconds. Nicole Doi (Pleasanton, Calif.) posted the same split at 24.12 seconds, Stephanie Bayless (Spokane, Wash.) followed with a split of 23.90 seconds, and Melissa Randolf (Everett, Wash.) anchored the relay with a split of 23.93 seconds. The combined time of 1:36.07 was 19/100ths of a second faster than the previous mark set two years ago.
"Although a lot of the swimmers posted personal best times in the morning, we finished just outside the qualifying marks for second swims in the evening session," Seattle U head coach Craig Nisgor said. "It was huge for us to break the record in the 200 free relay, everyone did their part and swam fast, and we are excited for the next two days."
In the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle, Bethany Gehrke (Lynnwood, Wash.) finished in 27th place with a time of 5:07.34, while Allie McGavock (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) posted a season-best time of 5:13.94 to finish in 35th place. Rachel Leighter (Eugene, Ore.) finished in 38th place with a mark of 5:15.41, followed by Whitney Dean (Campbell, Calif.) in 39th place with a season-best time of 5:16.61 and Jane Liggett (Portland, Ore.) in 40th place in 5:18.26.
Karla Ruff (Seattle, Wash.) was the top Redhawk finisher in the 200 individual medley preliminaries, posting a career-best time of 2:08.94 to finish in 27th place. Mackenzie Gant (Richland, Wash.) moved into sixth place on the Seattle U all-time top times list in the event with a mark of 2:10.85, good enough for 33rd place.
In the 50 freestyle preliminaries, Richards posted a then-career-best time of 24.25 seconds, finishing in 28th place in the morning. Randolf finished in 34th place at 24.57 seconds, Doi tied for 35th place with a personal-best time of 24.69 seconds, and Bayless also moved into the top ten list of fastest times in the event at 24.72 seconds, finishing in 37th place.
Caroline Van Maren (Bellevue, Wash.) finished in 42nd place with a time of 25.14 seconds, just ahead of Tiffany Dang (Bothell, Wash.) in 43rd place with a season-best mark of 25.26 seconds. Melanie Frey (Seattle, Wash.) posted a time of 25.71 seconds to finish in 47th place, followed by Dilynn D'Agostino (Gresham, Ore.) in 48th place in 25.74 seconds and Megan Robinson (Salt Lake City, Utah) in 49th place in 25.90 seconds.
With 22 points for an eighth place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, Seattle University remained in ninth place in the overall team standings with 58 points. Northern Arizona remains on top of the team standings with 293 points, four points ahead of San Jose State with 289 points, even though the Spartans won their third relay of the championships as well as placing 1-2-4-6 in the 50 freestyle.
The WAC Championships continue Friday, March 1, starting with the preliminaries of the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke at 11 a.m. local time. The finals of those five events as well as the 400 medley relay will commence at 6:30 p.m. Central time Friday, with live video streaming of the evening session available for a fee on www.wacsports.com.