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MANSFIELD, Texas – Freshman
Gabi Summers (Cheyenne, Wyo./Central) wrapped up her individual competition at the 2012 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday morning with a remarkable drop in the 500 freestyle as she set another personal-best time at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium.
“I had a good week [individually], I'm not too upset with myself about not making finals,” Summers said. “I didn't have any hard-set expectations, I just wanted to get best times, that's what I ended up getting and I'm fine with that.”
Summers completed her third and final solo event with a lifetime-best mark of five minutes, 3.28 seconds in the 500, which was nearly seven seconds faster than her seeded time. She finished the race in 26th, which was a jump of 19 spots from her preliminary seeding of 45th. That time was also one second shy of the varsity record (5:02.28), set back on Feb. 19, 2009, by former Nanook
Sam Zinsli.
“That was a great swim,” head coach
Scott Lemley said. “It moves her up to number two all-time and just missed breaking our varsity record. She came into the program as a 5:30 500 swimmer, went 5:10 during the season and went 5:03 today.”
“I've worked hard this year and every time I try to slow down and take break, this meet has been a motivation for me to keep going,” Summers said. “That's what my races have shown so far.”
Yesterday, Summers registered a pair of lifetime bests as she placed 20th in the 400 individual medley in 4:32.39, which was nearly six seconds faster than her seeded time, while also taking 24th in the 200 freestyle with in 1:53.57.
Also in the pool on Friday morning were freshmen
Genevieve Johnson (Fresno, Calif./University) and
Margot Adams (Anchorage, Alaska/Frontier Charter).
Johnson was 34th in the 100 breaststroke after hitting the wall in 1:08.84, while Adams, runner-up in the 100 butterfly yesterday, took 37th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.82.
Tonight, the team of freshman
Danielle Lyons (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan/St. Mary's), Adams, Summers and sophomore
Bente Heller (Hamburg, Germany/Albrecht Thzer Gymnasium) will compete in the timed final of the 800 freestyle relay.
The foursome brings in a pre-race seeding of fourth with a time of 7:30.47 in the 16-team field. During the final event of the morning session, the teams seeded ninth through 16th raced the 800 free and Drury's tandem set the standard after it swam a 7:25.03, which is faster than any team seeded in the top eight.
Finals are set to begin at 6 p.m. (Central) with the 800 free relay being the final event of the evening.
Live results and
live web streaming of the championships are available through NCAA.com.
