2018 CCSA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 14th – 17th, 2018
- Athens, GA (University of Georgia)
- Live results available on Meet Mobile
The CCSA Championships kicked off tonight, with the women’s and men’s 200 medley relays and 800 free relays starting the week’s conference action.
In the women’s 800 free relay, Liberty University pulled off the narrow victory over Florida Gulf Coast. Liberty led from the get-go, thanks to a 1:46.55 lead-off leg by sophomore Hannah Baker, and while FGCU’s Liz Zeiger outsplit Liberty’s Payton Keiner, 1:47.36 to 1:47.99, there just wasn’t enough pool left to catch the freshman Keiner. Liberty won in 7:10.73, ahead of FGCU’s 7:11.15 effort.
Liberty also took the 200 medley in 1:38.34, touching ahead of FGCU again (1:39.07), with Keiner going a field-best 24.96 to start things off for Liberty.
The Old Dominion men won the 200 medley relay, going 1:28.94 to touch ahead of Incarnate Word’s 1:29.75. ODU boasted the fastest fly split in the field from sophomore Filip Svedberg, who was 21.18 on the third leg for them. Incarnate Word did have the fastest breast split, getting a 24.38 out of sophomore Sasha Karpenko.
In the men’s 800 relay, Incarnate Word dominated with a 6:31.09, defeating Old Dominion by over eight seconds. Incarnate Word had a 1:37.00 lead-off leg by Kyrylo Shvets as they wouldn’t be touched by ODU, whose relay finished 2nd in 6:39.45.
In addition to the relays tonight, there were several time trials done this afternoon. Of the various time trials, the most interesting was the 200 fly women’s race. There, FGCU’s Tina Elmgreen sped to a new program record 1:55.55, shaving several tenths off of her previous best and old school record 1:56.24. Liberty’s Alicia Finnigan also had a great swim, going 1:56.61 to take 2nd in the time trial. Elmgreen now ranks 20th in the nation in the 200 fly and Finnigan 30th. Last year, a 1:56.60 was invited to the 2017 NCAA Championships, so Elmgreen looks like a solid bet to be invited, with Finnigan precariously on the bubble. Both women could, of course, improve upon their times in the official 200 fly later at the CCSA Champs.
UIW Men lead 592, Old Dominion 503. On the women’s side FGCU 1152, Liberty U 1078.
UIW won both diving events.
The real story is Liberty winning both relays for the ladies.
Liberty women sent a message.
Lara Siebrecht shattered best time with 1st B Cut and GWU school record 1:57.2 back!
Fast swims all around tonight!