INDIANAPOLIS -- Sophomore
Grace Wenger made history, both individually and with the Bates 200 yard freestyle relay, Thursday at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Wenger (Hanover, N.H.) placed sixth in the 200 yard freestyle with a finals time of 1:50.38, the best finish ever in the event for a Bobcat at NCAAs. She swam the prelim in 1:50 flat to clinch a top-8 finish.
Earlier in the day, she anchored the 200 yard freestyle relay team, which broke its own program record with a time of 1:34.01 in the prelim. That was good for a spot in the championship final for the first time in school history. The previous best finish for a Bates women's 200 yard freestyle relay at nationals was 11th. In the final, the team of junior
Abigail Gibbons (Westtown, N.Y.), sophomore
Marjorie McLeod (Durham, Maine), senior
Suzy Ryckman (Riverside, Conn.), and Wenger placed eighth with a time of 1:34.44.
Gibbons, Wenger, and Ryckman weren't done. First-year
Sophie Cassily (Rye, N.H.) joined them for the last race of the day, the 400 yard medley relay. The Bobcats earned All-America honors with a 13th place finish, recording a time of 3:49.27 in the prelim and an impressive 3:48.80 in the consolation final.
Wenger has earned five All-America honors in the first two days of the NCAA Championships and the Bates women sit in a tie for 12th place out of 33 scoring teams. The Bates men, who have two representatives at NCAAs, are currently in a tie for 21st out of 37 scoring teams.
The NCAA Championships continue Friday with prelims at 10am and finals at 6pm.
