March 15, 2012
LIVE RESULTS: Swimming | Diving
VIDEO: Friday Prelims | Friday Finals (ESPN3) | Saturday Prelims | Saturday Finals (ESPN3)
AUBURN, Ala.—It was a record-breaking day for the 21st-ranked Arizona State women’s swimming and diving team on the first day of the 2012 NCAA Championships, Thursday, in Auburn, Ala.
The Sun Devil 400 medley relay of senior Kelli Kyle, senior Rebecca Ejdervik, junior Caroline Kuczynski and junior Shannon Landgrebe finished seventh in the nation in the event with an ASU school record time of 3:31.52. The Sun Devils set a program record in the preliminaries, only the best that standard by almost a second. Overall the relay shattered the previous record of 3:33.76, set by the same relay combo in 2011, by over two seconds. The seventh-place finish in the relay guarantees All-American honors for Kyle, Ejdervik, Kuczynski and Landgrebe.
In diving senior Elina Eggers finished 14th, nationally, on the women’s 1-meter platform with a finals score of 289.20. Egger’s 14th-place finish is the highest of her career at the NCAA Championships.
In the 500 free junior Cassie Morrice took 19th, touching in with a time of 4:41.78. Morrice’s time is just fractions of a second off her personal-best time and school record of 4:41.31 she set earlier in the season against UCLA. Teammate Tristin Baxter finished 23rd with a time of 4:43.23, good for third-best in school history.
After the first round, Arizona State is in 15th place with 27 points. The second round of the 2012 NCAA Championships, hosted by Auburn, continues tomorrow.