Byrum Earns All-CCSA Honors in the 200 Breast on Final Day of 2013 CCSA Championship Meet
February 24, 2013 | Swimming
Athens, Ga. - Sophomore Charity Byrum earned her second All-Conference honor of the weekend in the 200 breast, and seven different Runnin' Bulldogs recorded Top 8 finishes on Saturday, as Gardner-Webb used a total team effort to achieve a fifth place finish on day three of 2013 CCSA Championships.
Gardner-Webb finished the weekend in fifth place after accumulating 349 points during the Championship meet.
In the 1650 free freshman Madi Dinsmore made the most of her first-ever CCSA finals swim, finishing fourth with a time of 17:16.69. Dinsmore (New Ipswich, N.H.) established a new season best time in giving Gardner-Webb a great start Saturday night.
April Niccolai and Jenna Ballinger (Lexington, Ky.) stepped up during finals of the 200 back for the Runnin' Bulldogs, swimming to seventh and eighth place finishes, respectively.
Niccolai, from Naperville, Ill., achieved her first-ever CCSA final in her first year as a Runnin' Bulldog. The freshman raced to a season best time of 2:03.07 during prelims of the event. Ballinger, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., achieved a season best time of 2:03.60 during finals of the event.
Freshman Taylor Schwartz (Westerville, Ohio) also swam a season best time (2:06.18) during finals of the 200 back, placing 13th in the event to gain valuable points for the Gardner-Webb women.
GWU got an All-Conference performance in the 200 breast from Charity Byrum (Winston-Salem, N.C.), the third such individual honor her career. The sophomore swam a season best time during finals, moving up two spots to finish in third place in the event with a time of 2:17.90.
Juniors Anna Springer and Sam Shelley (Wilmington, Del.) moved up in finals thanks to season best times. Springer (Snellville, Ga.) raced to a 13th place finish in the event, moving up three spots during finals by turning in a personal best time of 2:21.64. Springer's great finals performance was supplemented by Shelley's 14th fastest time of 2:22.41.
Freshman Giorgie Graves (Riverview, Fla.) added to an outstanding meet in the 200 fly, taking fourth place in the event behind a school record time of 2:03.45. The performance marked the third Top 8 finish of the weekend for the GWU standout, who broke her own school record of 2:03.49 established Saturday morning during prelims.
Junior Faith Kempf (Sterling, Kan.) took 15th in the event to wrap up a solid season in her third year as a Runnin' Bulldog. Kempf, who swam a season best time of 2:07.07 in prelims of the event, finished her finals race with a time of 2:08.01.
Gardner-Webb closed the meet with a sixth place finish in the night's final event, the 400 free relay. Charity Byrum (52.61), Giorgie Graves (52.16), Jenna Ballinger (52.91), and Laurenn Singleton (52.45) teamed up to record a time of 3:30.13 to close out the meet Saturday night.
Finishing fifth in the women's team standings, Gardner-Webb worked hard to overcome 300 total diving points given out during the Championship meet.
In all, four Gardner-Webb women's swimmers earned All-Conference honors, the most since the 2011 CCSA Championships. Charity Byrum (200 breast, 200 medley relay), Giorgie Graves (500 free, 200 medley relay), Laurenn Singleton (200 medley relay), and Mary O'Doherty (200 medley relay) registered All-CCSA performances this weekend.
| Final Results - 2013 CCSA Championships |
