BLACKSBURG, Va. — The No. 6 nationally ranked Brenau swim team scored 610.50 points to capture its third straight Appalachian Swimming Conference championship Feb. 11.
The Golden Tigers swim team now looks ahead to the 2017 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics U.S. championships meet March 1-4 in Columbus, Georgia. The team finished third in the nation after last’s year’s NAIA finals.
In the ASC finals, four individual championships and three relay championships helped propel the Golden Tigers past Emmanuel College, which scored 587 points.
“It was a very tight meet that came down to the last event,” said Brenau second-year Head Coach Nate Rhoads. “The ladies knew that everyone had to keep fighting to hold onto first. It took a lot of grit and determination to pull this one out. I'm very proud of this team and I know this experience is going to help us at nationals."
Lindsay Dowling, a pre-nursing major from Winston, Georgia, and Courtney Hayward, a psychology major from Townsville, Australia, both repeated as multiple individual conference champions from last season. Dowling won the 100 backstroke with a time of 58:38 and the 200 backstroke in 2:06.37, while Hayward defended her 500 freestyle with a time of 5:04.85 and won the 1,000 freestyle in a meet record time of 10:28.65.
For Hayward, the 1,000 freestyle record marked the fifth conference record of her career. The Townsville, Australia, native holds individual conference records in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 1,000 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle and the 400 individual medley.
Newcomer Ashley Jou, a Snellville freshman majoring in business, also won an individual title in 3-meter diving with a score of 162.15.
Brenau captured three relay titles, including the 800 freestyle relay team, which set a meet record time of 7:48.60. The group comprised Hayward, Yanne Toussaint, a freshman marketing major from Varsseveld, Netherlands; Maria Soledad Morell Quiroga, a junior business major from Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Ella Kleinschmidt, a junior early childhood education major from Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia.
The 400 medley team of Dowling, Touissaint, junior business major Alisha Hodgetts of Perth, Australia, and Hayward took the title in 3:57.86. The 200 relay team of Dowling, Toussaint, Hodgetts and Kleinschmidt edged out the competition in 1:47.87.
Emmanuel, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Wheeling Jesuit University and Mars Hill University rounded out the top five.
Other Brenau top eight individual and relay conference finishers from the conference championships include:
- Ayana Daniels, third place, 1 meter diving, 157.75;
- Sarah Frey, eighth place, 400 IM, 4:55.67
- Courtney Hayward, second place, 400 IM, 4:33.56;
- Alisha Hodgetts, seventh place, 50 freestyle, 24:83; fourth place, 100 butterfly, 58:54; sixth place, 100 freestyle, 54.23
- Ashley Jou, second place, 1 meter diving, 174.35
- Ella Kleinschmidt: third place, 500 freestyle, 5:14.16; fourth place, 200 freestyle, 1:56.52; eighth place, 1650 freestyle, 19:00.89
- Anna Rose, eighth place, 50 freestyle, 25:23
- Yanne Toussaint: third place, 200 IM, 2:11.43; third place, 100 breaststroke, 1:08.67; sixth place, 200 breaststroke, 2:30.38
- The 200 freestyle relay team of Anna Rose, Alisha Hodgetts, Madison Kosater and Ella Kleinschmidt: second place, 1:38.42
- The 400 freestyle relay of Chloe Ireland, Ella Kleinschmidt, Alisha Hodgetts and Courtney Hayward: second place, 3:34.89
- Chloe Ireland, sixth place, 1:56.52, 200 freestyle; fifth place, 1650 freestyle, 18:29.44
