Marshall University Athletics
@HerdSwimming Finishes Preliminaries at Akron
12/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall's swimming and diving team has completed its preliminaries for day one of the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
In the 500 yard freestyle, senior Kaley Gregory was the first qualifier. Gregory's preliminary time of 4:55.97 was nearly two seconds faster than the next qualifier. Freshman swimmers Madi Pulfer (4:58.36) and Nele Albers (5:00.89) qualified third and fourth for the event, respectively. Kacey Preun (5:00.32) qualified fifth, while Teel Hartman (5:03.47) and Savannah Ruedt (5:03.94) qualified eighth and 11th. Emma Williams rounded out the 500 freestyle qualifiers with a 19th place time of 5:10.14. Pulfer and Williams finished the event with lifetime best times. Pulfer's time was also the 6th fastest in school history for the 500 free.
Emma Lockyer, Mikaya Reynolds and Carin Ingram qualified third, sixth and 21st for the 200 IM. Ingram's time was a lifetime best, while Lockyer moved into second on the all-time top 10 list.
In the 50 yard freestyle, Marshall had two swimmers in the top seven, with Danica Ross in sixth (23.80) and Gloriya Mavrova in seventh (24.22). Lauren Hurd and Lauren Cowher qualified 17th and 19th with times of 24.33 and 24.51. Rounding out the 50 were Chloe Parsemain and Katie Kramer with times of 24.59 and 25.51, good for 21st and 37th. Mavrova moved into third all-time on the top ten list.
Head coach Bill Tramel said there was room for improvement, but the team put together a good qualifying round.
"We were, I would say, solid this morning, but left some potential on the table," Tramel said.
"I was happy with the 500 placings. 5 Up is great. I thought the 200 IM was our best event this morning, performance-wise. Both Emma Lockyer and Mikaya Reynolds were right up against their lifetime bests."
Assistant coach Ian Walsh said he thought there was room for improvement as well, which could lead to stellar times Friday night if cleaned up.
"As group we need to do a better job of executing the details," Walsh said. "We have a great opportunity tonight to clean up our races from this morning and put ourselves in a position to swim faster. All of our women will have second and third opportunities in our relays tonight as well."
Tramel also said this meet is practice for the Conference USA championships and that good team performances start with quality morning sessions.
"We were fortunate to qualify fine, but as we talk about, this is a rehearsal for C-USA Championships. We must be better in the morning," Tramel said. "We will refocus this afternoon and be ready for Finals tonight."
The day one finals will be tonight at 6 p.m. A recap of the Herd results as well full results will be posted on Herdzone.com following the event, as well as analysis from head coach Bill Tramel. Fans can follow along with the match on the Akron Athletics page.
