Eagles 8th, 10th After First Full Day
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Asbury’s men sit in 8th and the women are 10th after the first full day of swimming at the NAIA National Championships hosted by Oklahoma City Community College. The men’s total of 53 points trail 7th place Cumberlands (Ky.) by nine points. Oklahoma Baptist paces the field with 249 points. The women have totaled 45 points and trail two conference rivals. Fresno Pacific leads the women’s field with 263 points.
The women’s 200 medley relay set a school record with a morning swim of 1:49.54. The group of Katie Duncan, April Hill, Taryn Albright and Ellen Worsham came back in the evening’s finals and swam a 1:50.14 to place 8th. The group broke the record set last year of 1:49.82. In the 800 free relay, a timed final, the Eagles placed 10th, as Ranay Ray, Abby Oberholtzer, Ellen Worsham and Larissa Martin swam an 8:01.94.
The men also set a school record in the 200 medley relay, swimming a 1:36.56 in the finals to place 7th. In the preliminary morning swim the team of Pat Armstrong, Cody Barnes, Danny Bowman and Tyler Decker clocked a 1:37.08 and sat in 8th place. The men’s 800 free relay team of Friend Bechtel, Nathan Runtas, Jake Courey and Bowman tied with Union for 7th in the timed final event with a time of 7:04.16.
Bowman was the lone male to swim at night for the Eagles, placing 11th in the 500 free after coming in 12th in the morning’s prelims. The sophomore’s finals time of 4:39.03 was nearly three seconds faster than his morning time. Bowman placed 3rd in the event last year.
Elizabeth Johns also swam in the 500 at night after taking the final spot in the mornings prelims. Johns was 16th after the morning session after a 5:24.09 but improved in the evening to place 12th with a time of 5:17.09. Taryn Albright also made the evening events, swimming in the 200 IM after a 16th place in the prelims. Albright improved her time by over a second in the evening with a 2:12.49 and placed 13th.
Tomorrows events will get started at 11 a.m. with finals to follow at 7 p.m. Events on tap for Day Three include: 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 400 medley relay and 3M diving. Live video for the events can be found here and live results updates can be found here.
