Results

INDIANPOLIS – Sophomore Oda Bygdnes closed-out the Alaska Nanooks swim team's 2018-19 season on Thursday evening, competing in the 100-yard butterfly event at the 2019 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Bygdnes, the lone qualifier from the Alaska Nanooks swim team in the past two seasons, placed 13th overall in Thursday evening's finals with a total time of 54.81. In her NCAA National Championships debut, Bygdnes earned All-America Honorable Mention status for the first time in her career with the Nanooks.

Bygdnes' time was 02:55 behind Queens University's Polina Lapshina, who took home the individual national championship title with a time of 52.16 in the finals, a new NCAA DII and meet record in the event. Lapshina also had the fastest preliminary time of the day with a 52.48.

Although it wasn't her fastest time of the day, Bygdnes' finals time was still better than her previous career-best prior to Thursday.

Additionally, Bygdnes was one of three competitors who qualified for the 100-yard butterfly from the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference, ranking second behind Azusa Pacific's Elodie Poo-Cheong (54.88).

In the preliminary race on Thursday morning, Bygdnes swam a career-best 56.44 in the 100 fly, moving up from her pre-seeded ranking of 14th to No. 9 in a field of 35 competitors. The Harstad, Norway native's preliminary time just missed the Alaska Nanooks' school record by 00:00.3.

"Oda had a phenomenal 100-yard butterfly race this morning," Weiland said. "She sat high in the water from start to finish and looked strong the entire way."

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks swim team, follow @NanooksSwim on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Swimming team page on Facebook.