Swimming Finishes Fourth At NAIA Nationals

Brenau Swimming wrapped up their strong performance at the NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday with a overall fourth place team finish.

During their championships, team members earned individual and team national titles, numerous All-American honors and rewrote the record books as the team earned its place among the nation's best.

The Golden Tigers earned with 344 points, beating out Concordia (Calif.) University by a mere three points, and placed behind national champion Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University, SCAD-Savannah (Ga.) and Oklahoma Baptist University.

Freshman Courtney Hayward kicked off the last finals session with a runner-up finish in the 1650 Freestyle, beating her own team record with a fast time of 17:02.45. Fellow freshman Talia Sola also garnered runner-up status in the 200 Backstroke, setting a school record by touching the wall in 2:01.68.

Junior Shelby Rumker took seventh place in the 100 Free (52.82) and also set a new team record previously held by teammate Michelle Billeaud.

In the 200 Breaststroke, Sophie Nasstrom came on strong in the console heat to touch tenth place and better her preliminary time to a 2:30.26. Mary Katherine Jabbia challenged the finals pacing out in second place until the 100 turn to finish fifth overall with 2:24.62. Her preliminary time (2:23.69) broke the previous record held by former Brenau standout and three-time NAIA All American Hannah Boudreaux.

Michelle Billeaud finished a solid seventh place in the 200 Butterfly with 2:11.17, with her preliminary time of 2:10.87 earning her a personal best.

Saturday evening ended with the 400 Freestyle Relay as the Golden Tigers finished in 3:34.70 to capture a solid sixth place.

"I am incredibly proud to represent Brenau University and even prouder of the hard work and dedication our swimmers put into earning a fourth place finish," said head coach Blaire Bachman. "We saw 16 personal best times, 12 new team records, six individual All Americans performances, two All-American relays, two runner-up national titles and two individual national titles. This is a team effort that began in August with our team dreaming big goals and today we celebrate this accomplishment and now look forward to what's ahead of us next year!"

In addition to the team accolades, Bachman was honored as NAIA Women's Swimming and Diving Co-Coach of the Year for her team's outstanding performance. She shares the honor with Scott Teeters of Olivet Nazarene University.

The Golden Tigers fourth place finish is the highest in program history and tops off a banner year for the program.