Swimming Has Strong Day Two at NAIA Championships

On day two of the 2015 NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships, the Brenau swim team gained ground on second place going into the final day of competition.

In Friday's opening event, the 200 freestyle relay team scored points with a seventh place finish in a time of 1:37.61.

Courtney Hayward (SO/Townsville, AUS), who won a national title in the 500 freestyle on Thursday, narrowly missed a second championship in the 400 IM. Hayward was edged out by 0.60 seconds to secure second place and All-American honors.

A pair of swimmers placed well in the 100 yard butterfly as Alisha Hodgetts (FR/Perth, AUS) and Michelle Billeaud (SR/Lafayette, La.) placed second and third to secure All-American honors.

Talia Sola captured a national title in the 100 yard backstroke as the sophomore raced to a blistering 54.76 to secure the win.

Other top finishers include a sixth place finish by Shelby Rumker (SR/Douglas, Ga.) in the 200 freestyle (1:54.69), a fourth place finish by Mary Katherine Jabbia (JR/Slidell, La.) in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.12) and a second place finish in the 400 medley relay (3:50.79).

Brenau hits the pool again on Saturday morning with 318 points, sitting only eight points behind second place SCAD-Savannah (326 points). Host Oklahoma Baptist leads with 483 points. Preliminary competition is set to begin at 9 am central with finals starting at 5 pm.