GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Emory & Henry College Women's Swimming Team is in second place after day one of the 2014 Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships.
E&H finished the night with a bang, winning the 400-yard medley relay with a school- and ODAC-record time of 3:55.78. It was the program's first-ever relay victory at the conference championships.
Freshman Liz Kleveno (Fredericksburg, Va.) led the race off splitting :58.86 in the backstroke leg, setting a new best time for the Wasps. Freshman Michaela Nolte (Hillsborough, N.C.) split 1:05.58 in the breaststroke leg while freshman Allison Fowler (Morristown, Tenn.) posted a :58.65 on the butterfly leg and sophomore Payton Shirey (Seaford, Del.) came home in :52.69. The previous record of 3:59.44 was set by Washington and Lee at the 2012 conference meet.
The Wasps earned a trio of second-place finishes in the three individual events of the evening. Sophomore Taylor Guardalabene (Charlotte, N.C.) posted a new E&H record in the 500-yard freestyle (5:14.15) to take runner-up honors. E&H took the top three spots in the consolation finals of the 500-free with freshman Olivia Shumate (North Wilkesboro, N.C.), freshman Jordan Greenburg (Cordova, Tenn.) and sophomore Sam Brown (Memphis, Tenn.) finishing ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively.
Fowler was Emory & Henry's only entry in the 200-yard individual medley, but swam a school-record 2:10.17 to finish second.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Shirey was second, clocking a :24.02 while Nolte was third. Freshman Jessica Richardson (Vero Beach, Fla.) had the sixth-quickest swim while freshman Kia Hamilton (Memphis, Tenn.) was third in the consolation finals for 11th overall.
Emory & Henry nearly had another first-place finish with the 200-yard freestyle relay, but was disqualified for leaving the starting block too early.
The Wasps will continue the championships on Saturday morning with another round of preliminary races at 10:00 a.m. Saturday's finals are set to begin at 6:30 in the evening.
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Emory & Henry got off to a strong start in the preliminaries of day one of the 2014 Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships, qualifying first in two of five events.
Shirey broke her own ODAC record with a swim of :23.91 in the 50-yard freestyle to lead the pack. The Wasps also qualified first in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the squad of Shirey, Fowler, Guardalabene and Nolte clocking a 1:38.29.
E&H is represented with four swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle with Guardalabene seeded third (5:19.97). Shumate, Greenburg and Brown will be in the consolation finals after finishing 10th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
Fowler, the Wasps' only entry in the 200-yard individual medley, will be surrounded by swimmers from Washington and Lee University as the Generals claimed six of the eight spots in the final. Fowler is seeded third (2:11.48), less than 1.5 seconds behind the top qualifying time.
Joining Shirey in the finals of the 50-yard freestyle are Nolte (third) and Richardson is (fifth). Hamilton will swim in the consolation finals after finishing with the 12th best time in the morning session.
The final event of the day will be the 400-yard medley relay. Emory & Henry is the third seed for tonight's finals after Kleveno, Hamilton, Powell and Shumate clocked a 4:16.29.
Check back this evening for a recap of the finals.
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