Women's Swimming Take Fourth-Place at 2016 CCSA Championships
February 20, 2016 | Swimming
ATHENS, GA. – The Gardner-Webb women's swimming team finished this evening at the 2016 CCSA Championships, a night highlighted by a 1,650 Free victory and a new School Record set in the 200 Fly on the final evening of the Championships at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.
Gardner-Webb got off to a great start this evening as GWU sophomore Lauren Oglesby kicked things off with a victory in the 1,650 Free event for the second straight year at the Conference Championships timing in at 16:41.17.
The Runnin' Bulldogs also saw strong swims in the event from freshman Morgan Vanderschaaf who swam 17:17.76 finishing in tenth-place, fellow freshman Miranda Johns who finished in 16th with a time of 17:35.82, behind her was senior Madi Dinsmore, participating in her final event for Gardner-Webb, clocking in at a time of 17:55.80 taking 21st-place.
For the 200 Breast A-Final GWU had Whitney Peters and Lili Toth swimming this evening in the event, Peters placed in fifth from a time of 2:17.37 as Toth finished seventh overall with a time of 2:18.42.
Freshman Anna Banick earned a second-place finish for the Runnin' Bulldogs in the B-Final of the 200 Breast swimming a time of 2:20.32.
Gardner-Webb had four swimmers in the B-Final of the 200 Fly this evening as London Schumacher won the event breaking a School Record in the event with a time of 2:02.80 beating the old record by six-hundredth's of a second.
Right behind Schumacher was a trio of freshman for the Runnin' Bulldogs as Tessa Walsh (2:04.85) took second, Carol Zangla (2:05.45) placed third, and Mackenzie Ropka (2:07.99) finished in eighth.
Adel Kiss finished third in the C-Final of the 200 Fly with a time of 2:09.35, as senior Christina Clayton finalized her GWU career this evening taking sixth in the event from a time of 2:12.67.
Senior Giorgie Graves completed her GWU individual career this evening by collecting a victory in the 100 Free B-Final with the impressive time of 51.05. Fellow Runnin' Bulldog Kelsey Williams took home fourth-place in the B-Final swimming 51.56 of the 50 yards.
Garnder-Webb had two seniors compete in the 200 Back B-Final this evening, Taylor Schwartz and April Niccolai swam their last time for Gardner-Webb right next to each other in lanes five and six. Schwartz finished the event in fourth-place with a time of 2:05.31, while Niccolai earned fifth right behind Schwartz with a time of 2:05.42.
In the C-Final of the 200 Back senior Caroline Andrews in the final swim of her collegiate career finished in eighth for the heat with a time of 2:13.07.
To cap off the final event of the evening the Gardner-Webb 400 Free Relay team of Graves, Toth, Ropka, and Williams finished just off the podium with a fourth-place ending to the meet from a time of 3:26.41.
Head Coach Mike Simpson had this to say about the performance of the women's team of these past four days,
"We out swam a lot of great teams this week. Our emphasis is always on the end of the year. We always want to be great at the end of the year and we did just that this week. This group of girls has really grown together and I'm really proud of how these girls matured together as a group this year."
Several Gardner-Webb swimmers will take part in long-course events tomorrow morning in attempts to make NCAA trial times in the separate individual events.
Final Standings:
1. Florida Gulf Coast University- 1670
2. Liberty University- 1358
3. Georgia Southern University - 925
4. Gardner-Webb University - 899
5. University of the Incarnate Word – 715
6. Campbell University- 683
7. UNCA - 506
8. University of North Florida – 470
9. Howard University - 183
10. North Carolina A&T State University - 177
11. Virginia Military University - 166
