Bowman Leads Eagles on First Day at Nationals
ST. PETERS, Mo. – Asbury freshman Daniel Bowman finished third in the 500 Free on the second day of the NAIA National Meet on Thursday. The men sit in 8th place and the women at 10th after one day of swimming events.
Bowman (Lodi, Calif.) was seeded second in the 500 after the morning prelims, as he posted a time of 4:34.08. In the evening finals Bowman swam an even faster 4:32.32 but was just out-touched at the wall by Bobby Yribarren of Fresno Pacific who finished second at 4:32.31. Alex Graudins from Savannah College of Art & Design won the race with a NAIA record 4:25.32.
Bowman was also a member of the Eagles’ 200 Medley Relay and 800 Free Relay teams that finished 10th and 7th respectively. Other members of the 200 Medley Relay were sophomore Trevor Ehrenheim, freshman Pat Armstrong and senior Matt Hood. They finished with a time of 1:36.83 in the finals after posting a 1:37.68 in the prelims. The 800 Free Relay team included seniors Chris Lipka and Matt Hood, along with sophomore Nathan Runtas. They posted a 6:57.69 in the timed final.
On the women’s side Asbury’s 200 Medley Relay took the “B” final and placed 9th overall with a 1:49.82 finals after posting a 1:51.15 in the prelims. The team consisted of three freshmen in Taryn Albright, Katie Duncan, and Sarah Ritter as well as sophomore Larissa Meadows. The 800 Free Relay team of Ritter, freshman Cali Thomas, sophomore Ranay Ray, and junior Larissa Martin placed 9th in the timed final with a time of 7:54.60.
Ritter was one of two individual finalists on the day for the women, joining sophomore Elizabeth Johns. Ritter qualified ninth in the 50 Free with a prelim time of 24.52 and finished 12th overall in the finals at 24.48. Johns was the final qualifier in the 500 Free with a time of 5:15.16 just .02 ahead of Kelsey Hutton of Lindenwood. Johns also finished 12th overall in the finals with a time of 5:12.13.
Prelims get under way again today at 11:00 am eastern time with finals scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm. There are seven scheduled races for the men and women today including the 200 Free Relay, 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back and 400 Medley Relay.
For complete coverage of the NAIA National Meet you can click here, and for live stats you can follow the link here.
